Swollen Rivers Force Evacuation : Lightning Fires, Floods Hit Nebraska and Iowa

Thunderstorms clung to the central United States Thursday, bringing lightning that sparked fires in Nebraska and downpours that swelled Iowa rivers and forced the evacuation of mobile homes.

Up to three inches of rain sent floodwaters from the brimming Nodaway River into about 400 homes in and near Clarinda, Iowa. The Page County town was “hit really hard this morning, and we have about four feet of standing water in some places,” a Clarinda police spokeswoman said.

About 25 residents fled a mobile home park near Clarinda and took shelter at a school.

Flooding is getting to be old hat in the area, a sheriff’s dispatcher in the southwest Iowa town said. “Every time it rains, we think, ‘Shoot, here we go again.’ ”

The National Weather Service issued brief flash-flood warnings for Page, Mills and Montgomery counties before dawn as 3.5 inches of rain swelled the Nishnabotna River, which threatened to overrun its banks.

Six inches of rain was measured at Wales, Iowa.

Thunderstorms were scattered from Wisconsin and Michigan to Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

But in northern Wisconsin, a drought threatened dairy farm animals and Gov. Tommy Thompson said he will declare a state of emergency today. Only last year, Wisconsin farmers provided thousands of bales of hay to drought-stricken farmers in Alabama.

Hot, humid weather led authorities to advise residents of New York, Chicago and Philadelphia to avoid heavy activity outdoors.

In Texas, the Houston area received 2 1/2 inches of rain in 2 1/2 hours just before the morning rush hour, flooding major intersections and sending water swirling over curbs on side streets. Water was rising in bayous because of four to five inches of rain during the morning.

“Rush-hour traffic is a mess,” said Cindy Paonessa of the Houston Police Department. “There were 35 major and minor accidents by 7:30 a.m. since this rain started. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and it was pouring, and it’s been pouring ever since,” she said.

The overloaded storm sewers built up enough pressure beneath Houston streets to pop 20 to 30 manhole covers.

In Omaha, lightning triggered numerous power outages, scrambled information in city traffic control computers, caused traffic tie-ups and minor fires.