YELLEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Water rescues were underway in Arkansas Wednesday after a new wave of flooding. severe storm Officials say it has hit large swaths of the United States and Canada. High winds, tornadoes and flooding caused damage or death from the Plains to New England this week.
As of Wednesday, up to 11 inches (nearly 28 centimeters) of rain had fallen in parts of the Ozark Mountains in Marion County, Arkansas, the National Weather Service said.
“Due to ongoing water rescues, many bridges were washed out in the area,” the weather service said. “Evacuations are ongoing due to significant water levels within homes and businesses.”
Storms around Keene, New Hampshire, downed trees and damaged homes on Tuesday. The storm also caused damage in upstate New York. Flooding around Toronto temporarily closed several major roads, Canadian media reported Wednesday.
The severe weather hit the Chicago area particularly hard. The weather service said 17 tornadoes were confirmed to have hit northern Illinois and northwest Indiana this week, 11 of which occurred during an unusual storm late Monday night.
Utilities continued to restore power across the Midwest, but 115,000 homes and businesses were still without power in Illinois and Indiana on Wednesday, according to reports. blackout.us.
An elderly couple died when their car was submerged in a flash flood near Elsa, Illinois, north of St. Louis. The Jersey County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that Mill Creek rose rapidly after several inches of rain at noon Tuesday, flooding their SUV. An 88-year-old woman was found dead in her car. Hours later, the body of an 88-year-old man was found near the creek bank.
The Sheriff's Office credited emergency dispatchers with helping save a 70-year-old man who was in another vehicle. The dispatcher directed the man to crawl through the skylight. When rescuers arrived, water was over the roof.
In Rockford, Illinois, a 76-year-old man drowned after the vehicle became stuck in a creek during Sunday's storm while he was riding in a pickup truck, authorities said. The driver survived.
As reported earlier, the Lake County Coroner's Office said a 44-year-old woman died Monday night when a tree fell on her house in Cedar Lake, Indiana, on the southern edge of the Chicago area.
