Record flooding inundates northwest Iowa, prompts evacuations, isolates one city
Historic flooding struck parts of Iowa over the weekend, damaging nearly 2,000 properties and prompting evacuations and disaster declarations.
Historic flooding struck parts of Iowa over the weekend, damaging nearly 2,000 properties and prompting evacuations and disaster declarations.
"I can tell you that the devastation is severe and it's widespread," Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said at a news conference Sunday afternoon in Des Moines.
Flooding on Saturday and overnight into Sunday was the result not just of direct rain — some areas measured 15 inches in two days, Reynolds said — but also of overflowing rivers' flooding dry communities downstream, National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Vachalek said.
Precipitation drawn north from the Gulf of Mexico and parked over northwest Iowa and neighboring states was then unleashed in a clash with a cool, low-pressure wave moving from west to east, he said.
Flooding in Rock Valley, Iowa. Gov. Kim Reynolds sent helicopters to the small town to evacuate people from flooded homes Saturday.Sioux County Sheriff via APAn official tally for weather-related deaths over the weekend was not yet available. In Tucson, Arizona, fire officials said a motorist stranded in monsoonal floodwaters was declared dead Saturday when first responders discovered her lifeless body.
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