Thousands Flee Floods in Central U.S.; Six Dead

Floodwaters fed by heavy rain deluged the central part of the nation Wednesday, forcing thousands of Illinois residents to abandon their homes, threatening to burst a Wisconsin dam and sending water gushing through windows in Tahlequah, Okla.

“We’re going to have the highest water we’ve had in history,” Civil Defense worker James Waters said in Tahlequah, where the Illinois River was expected to crest at 24 to 25 feet, about 13 feet above flood stage.

In Westfield in central Wisconsin, authorities ordered 300 residents out of their homes briefly for a second day when a crack widened in a 20-foot-high dam on Lawrence Lake, threatening to unleash a 10-foot wall of water.

Officials of the Natural Resources Department had warned that the dam holding back the 200-acre lake could collapse. Residents were allowed to return home Wednesday when water levels dropped, but were told to leave again when the dam deteriorated.

Evacuation Called Off

Marquette County Sheriff Kelly Campion called off the latest evacuation Wednesday afternoon, but told residents to be prepared in case the situation changed.

Thunderstorms stretched from the Ohio Valley into the southern Plains, pouring rain on areas already saturated by showers.

Four deaths in Illinois, one in Oklahoma and one in Montana were blamed on the flooding. Illinois was among the hardest-hit states with $30 million in flood damage reported.

In northern Illinois, floodwaters engulfed more of Chicago’s northwest suburbs where at least 2,500 families have fled their homes since flooding began Sunday.

‘Slowly Spreading’

“It’s slowly spreading,” Mount Prospect Police Cmdr. David Nicholson said. “It hasn’t gotten any deeper. The area affected just increases as it spreads.”

In Oklahoma, floodwaters swollen by 15 inches of rain over two days swept one motorist to his death, sent water gushing through windows in downtown Tahlequah and covered Muskogee streets with 10 feet of water in places.

“This is as bad as we’ve ever had since 1941,” said R.V. Thomas, the Muskogee County Civil Defense director. “Muskogee County’s flooding from one end to the other.”

Children on a school bus near Checotah, Okla., had to climb onto their seats to escape floodwaters that stalled the bus.

Many Roads Impassable

“There is about two feet of water in the bus,” Highway Patrol Lt. Jerry Blackford said. Nearly all secondary roads in the area around Muskogee were impassable.

In northeastern Missouri, flooding closed a 23-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in Saline County. Between 75 and 100 secondary roads in the state have been closed.

The Mississippi River is expected to swell to its highest autumn level in 115 years between Iowa and Illinois.