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Big Storms Are Taking Heavy Toll on Midwest

ST. LOUIS — Communities across the Midwest were reeling Monday after heavy weekend storms across the region left at least 17 people dead, more than two million homes and businesses without power, and scores of roadways flooded.

The storm, which combined remnants of Hurricane Ike with a slow-moving front in a wave of low pressure, produced wind gusts of up to 81 miles per hour, spurred five tornadoes in Michigan and dumped 4 to 10 inches of water on parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

Accumulated rainfall forced at least 200 Illinois residents into temporary shelters, and on Monday Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich declared seven counties in the northeastern portion of the state disaster areas.

“We haven’t been able to conduct much damage assessment yet, we’ve mostly been in response mode,” said Patti Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. “There’s been flash flooding in several parts of the state, especially in Chicago and the collar counties.”

The storm produced little rain in Ohio, but its sustained winds of more than 40 m.p.h. snapped trees and power lines, leaving 1.9 million customers without power. The storm is also being blamed for five deaths in that state, including that of a woman who died when a tree struck her home, said Tamara McBride, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

Indiana was also hard hit, with rains swelling rivers and winds damaging trees and buildings. On Monday, 150,000 people remained without power there, and a portion of Interstate 80/94 on the Indiana-Illinois border remained partly closed.

“There have been so many local roads closed due to flooding that it would be very difficult to catalog,” said John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Erickson said the state was still assessing the storm’s damage. “We’re taking a look at that right now, but we have to wait for the floodwaters to recede,” he said.

The storm is blamed for six deaths in Indiana, Mr. Erickson said, including those of two adults who died after rescuing an infant from a culvert.

In Missouri, which like other Midwestern states had already been hit hard by flooding this summer, officials blamed the storm for four deaths. Floodwaters shut down more than 40 state and county roads and left an estimated 100,000 people without power on Sunday.

By Monday evening, 25,000 customers remained without power in St. Louis and southeastern Missouri, said a spokesman for the local utility, AmerenUE.

Officials said there could be still more problems.

“We’ve seen a lot of flash flooding down streams and gullies,” said Duane Nichols, deputy director for the state’s emergency management agency. “We don’t know where this is going to end up because some of the rivers aren’t scheduled to crest until later this week.”

After pummeling the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ike was downgraded to a tropical depression as it moved north toward Canada and combined with the slow-moving front to produce torrential rains and sustained winds of more than 40 m.p.h., said Daniel Cobb of the National Weather Service.

While several fatalities associated with the storm were due to drowning, falling limbs and whole trees that snapped in the storm have also taken a heavy toll. Falling trees were blamed for four of the deaths in Indiana. At least two people in Ohio were similarly killed, as was a suburban St. Louis woman when she stepped outside her house to look at the storm.

“They’re all dealing with fallen trees,” Mr. Erickson said. “In one case a person was killed after a tree fell on their car. It just shows you how severe the winds have been. It’s really incredible.”

GRIFFITH | Town officials are asking residents on the north end of Griffith near Cline Avenue and River Road to be prepared to evacuate, if water levels continue to rise.

The Little Calumet River is flowing east, dumping water onto the Griffith Golf Center. The water level is four feet below the top of a levee there, but water is quickly rising, Town Council President Rick Ryfa said.

The National Guard is delivering sandbags to the area, and the Army Corps of Engineers is monitoring the water level, Ryfa said.

Town officials are going door-to-door, letting residents know that evacuation is a possibility. The area is mostly industrial but also turns into apartments and town houses, he said.

Ryfa said the town should have a better handle on the situation by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"As a precaution, all residents and businesses need to be prepared to evacuate quickly if called upon," he said. "We are prepared to do it if the water increase is high."

Broomstick wrote:Mother nature likes to remind us once in awhile that this place really did use to be a swamp.

Broomstick wrote:Of course, this sort of disaster can be spotty and patchy - just as an example, people 3 or 4 blocks from me were taken out of their flooded houses by boat, my street stayed above water, and Adrian got "just a little rain".

Adrian Laguna wrote:

Broomstick wrote:Mother nature likes to remind us once in awhile that this place really did use to be a swamp.

Well, in my particular area I think the hand of man is behind the lack of flooding. My neighbourhood was settled some time in the later 19th century, they probably added landfill before building the houses to avoid the problems that necessitated the raising of downtown.

Broomstick wrote:Unconfirmed, but today I heard that the water level of lake Michigan went up by 5 cm.

OK, that doesn't sound like much, but when you consider how big Lake Michigan is, that's huge.

MUNSTER | A gas explosion obliterated an evacuated home Wednesday night on Munster's deluged north side, shaking the region with a resounding thump heard miles away.

"It was like a massive Roman candle," neighborhood resident and witness Mark Steinken said.

"You could feel the shock wave," he said.

Firefighters found no one hurt in or near the flattened, burning pile of timbers that remained of the house in the 7900 block of Monroe Street after the blast about 7:20 p.m., Town Manager Thomas DeGiulio said. That home's occupant was accounted for after the explosion, DeGiulio said.

The explosion lit fire to two neighboring homes, both also empty because of the mandatory evacuation in the neighborhood just south of the Little Calumet River, DeGiulio said.

NIPSCO crews cut gas to many homes after the river spilled 3 feet of water into the neighborhood over the weekend, DeGiulio said. But gas continued to flow to some houses.

"They can't get to the gas. They can't find the meters because they're so deep underwater," DeGiulio said.

NIPSCO workers and firefighters were cutting off gas and power to many neighborhood homes after the explosion, DeGiulio said.

"This only reinforces why we don't want people going back into these houses," DeGiulio said.

DeGiulio was waiting in Munster Town Hall for a phone call with homeland security officials when the home blew, he said.

"It shook the building," DeGiulio said.

The echoing blast brought neighbors streaming out of homes and businesses, and the fire, emergency response and cleanup turned into a neighborhood event. Hundreds of people gathered at Broadmoor Avenue and Monroe Street to watch firefighters wade into 3 feet of water. The closest firetruck only could pull within 600 feet of the house, so firefighters hooked three 200 foot hoses together, a fireman said.

"I live over on Hohman, and it rocked my house," Eric Bohling said.

Steinken described a "sickening feeling" after he heard the explosion and saw a mushroom cloud of burning wood rising above the trees. Residents are weary.

"This has been one misery after the other," Steinken said.

Jim Flener, a neighbor to the exploded home, felt power and gas should have been cut to all homes before the blast.

"It could have been me down there," he said.

A NIPSCO spokesman said late Wednesday that crews are investigating, but he could not comment specifically on the circumstances surrounding the blast.

Dozens of people were forced from their homes in Gary's Glen Park neighborhood Wednesday morning as floodwaters deepened.

Floodwater from heavy weekend rains has overwhelmed some sewers, and the excess water can't flow into the Little Calumet River as it usually would, said Imad N. Samara, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Firefighters in boats picked up about 35 people from homes along 33rd Avenue between Broadway and Georgia Street just south of the river Wednesday, said Gary city spokeswoman LaLosa Burns. Mayor Rudy Clay ordered the evacuation after surveying the neighborhood between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., Burns said.

Evacuees were taken to the Hudson Campbell Fitness Center downtown for shelter, Burns said.

Firefighters were working Wednesday within the city's controversial new hour restrictions, but resident safety will trump budgetary problems, Burns said.

"We do not stop to necessarily take a look at the budget. We simply are concerned with the heath, safety and welfare of citizens first," Burns said.

The city and the Gary firefighters' union have sparred in recent weeks regarding moves by the city to reduce shifts and staffing on fire rigs.

Anthony Nicks had watched the water creep toward his street since Sunday. Neighbors -- holding everything from babies to bags -- started leaving the neighborhood Tuesday, said Nicks, who has lived on the 3300 block of Georgia for 12 years.

If the water flows down the remaining dry yards of road leading to his house, Nicks will leave as well, he said.

"It's never been this bad," he said.