Elections Today
- Pennsylvania
Recent Projections
| State | Candidate | Delegates |
|---|---|---|
 Donald Trump | ||
Pennsylvania |  Joe Biden |
Deadly Rising Rivers and Flash Floods Wash Over Midwest
From Texas to Ohio, torrential rain is causing devastating, rising floods.
March 20, 2008 — -- Raging rivers from Texas to Pennsylvania have turned houses into islands and have forced thousands of Americans to evacuate as floodwaters continue to rise today.
The storms that dumped as much as a foot of rain on the Midwest this week have caused more than a dozen deaths, left three people missing, submerged major highways and swept away hundreds of homes.
At least 225 rivers have reported record flooding, with some of the worst flooding along the banks of the Miami River in Ohio.
Rescue boats plucked families from their submerged homes, but the river is still rising with some meteorologists predicating another three feet of water in the hardest hit areas.
"It's the river. It's the weather. You can't fight it," said one of the flood victims in Ohio, Wednesday.
The National Weather Service predicted the Blanchard River in Ohio would crest this afternoon at 12.3 feet -- the 10th time it has surpassed the 11-foot flood level in the last 15 months.
In Missouri, resident Judy Bishop and her daughter can barely believe what they've lost and how fast the river rose to claim it.
"In 45 minutes we were in knee-deep water," Bishop said.
They saved only some of the things they can never replace. "We lost a whole suitcase of pictures," she said. Now as the big river continues to rise she fears what is yet to come. "I have done nothing but cry all day. … All day I've cried. … Now I'll worry every time a raindrop falls," said Bishop.
At least 13 deaths have been linked to the flooding during the last few days, and three people were missing.
In Missouri and Kentucky five people were killed in highway wrecks during heavy rain. In Ohio a 65-year-old woman appeared to have drowned while checking on a sump pump in her home. In southern Illinois, two bodies were found hours after floodwaters swept a pickup truck off a rural road.
In Arkansas and in Texas, where nearly 11 inches of rain fell, rescue workers are still searching for people swept away by swirling floodwaters.
