The Nation - News from June 5, 1989

Thunderstorms rumbled from Wyoming to the East Coast with Ft. Wayne, Ind., getting the worst of it, prompting the mayor to call a flood emergency. More than three inches of rain fell in southeastern Colorado, as showers and thunderstorms extended to Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee and dotted the Atlantic Coast states. Escaping were the Great Lakes to the northern Pacific Coast and the Southwest, where sunny skies prevailed. In Ft. Wayne, choked by 4 1/2 inches of rain in less than an hour, the Maumee River was five feet above flood level and at its highest since the floods of 1985. Workers placed almost 5,000 sandbags around the city. At least one death was attributed to the Indiana flooding when a man was electrocuted while trying to pump water out of the basement of a Huntington home.