Tornado leaves 3 dead in Missouri

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A man and his two adult sons died when a tornado obliterated a mobile home in southeast Missouri, officials said Tuesday.

By Adam Vogler, AP

A donkey wanders through debris in the back yard of Loy Miller's home after a tornado passed through the area in Diehlstadt, Mo. on Tuesday. The storm struck late Monday, killing three men, including Miller.

By Adam Vogler, AP

A donkey wanders through debris in the back yard of Loy Miller's home after a tornado passed through the area in Diehlstadt, Mo. on Tuesday. The storm struck late Monday, killing three men, including Miller.

The twister was part of a storm that struck Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky late Monday, but hit hardest in the tiny village of Diehlstadt, in Scott County, where the three men were killed.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said the mobile home was smashed beyond recognition.

"The frame was probably 100 yards away from where it was sitting," Walter said. "It was just debris everywhere. It just obliterated it."

Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Clark Parrott identified the deceased as 70-year-old Loy Miller, the owner of the trailer, and his sons, Jasper Miller, 50, and Randy Miller, 48. Parrott said it wasn't clear if the sons also lived in the mobile home.

"We had a pretty intense, concentrated storm," Parrott said.

An 11-year-old St. Louis County girl suffered minor head and arm injuries after being pelted by huge chunks of hail.

The gusty storm developed in the St. Louis area Monday afternoon, producing nearly an inch of rain and pingpong-sized hail in some places while leaving others bone dry, National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Sanders said. Hail, about an inch of rain and winds stronger than 50 mph were also reported in parts of southern Illinois and northwestern Kentucky.

The storm became particularly intense in southeast Missouri, and Diehlstadt, a village of 163 residents about 100 miles south of St. Louis, took the worst of it. The weather service said 52 homes and several businesses in the Diehlstadt area had damage, mostly to roofs. A church lost its steeple, and dozens of trees were uprooted or snapped.

Downed power lines closed Highway 77 for several hours, Parrott said. Power was restored before dawn.

The weather service determined the EF-2 tornado was 75 yards wide and had peak winds of 115 mph. Witnesses told Walter they saw a tornado dip down and strike the trailer, then bounce back up and dip down again elsewhere.

The storm was very much hit-and-miss. In the St. Louis area, Chesterfield on the east side of the Missouri River saw a downpour of sideways-blowing rain and hail around 4:30 p.m.; Weldon Spring, on the other side of the river, was virtually dry.

Monday's storm was so spotty that it did virtually nothing to relieve moderate to severe drought conditions in the area.

"We need a couple of inches of rain, big-time," Sanders said. "Heading into May we were above normal rainfall, but May just really killed it."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

View the original article here

Corps of Engineers Continues Assistance in Missouri River Flood Fight (ContributorNetwork)

The Army Corps of Engineers continues its efforts to reduce the damage created by the record water levels along the Missouri River and its tributaries. Six major dams and hundreds of miles of levees have been tested by the historic runoff the river basin is experiencing. Fifteen levees have been breached or overtopped at this time along the lower Missouri.

Main Stem Dams

Fort Peck: The Fort Peck reservoir is at capacity. The current plan is to lower discharges during the remainder of July. The reservoir is currently 2.5 feet below its record height in June.

Garrison: The Garrison reservoir is above the height of the spillway when closed. The open gates are providing surcharge storage and allowing the reservoir to hold additional flood water. Discharges are expected to be reduced slightly during the remainder of July.

Oahe: The Oahe reservoir is very close to capacity. The Corps plans to reduce the water discharge slightly during the rest of the month of July.

Big Bend: The reservoir created by the Big Bend dam is slightly below capacity at this time. Discharges have been reduced by about ten percent for July from the record amount set in June.

Fort Randall: The Fort Randall reservoir is continuing to fill though still below capacity. The Corps plans to increase discharges to offset the increase of water entering the reservoir.

Gavins Point: The reservoir remains about three feet below its record, set in June. Discharges will remain at 160,000 cubic feet per second, a record output, for the foreseeable future.

Lower Missouri River Levees

Federal Levees: 48 federally controlled levees line the Missouri River and its tributaries downstream of Rulo, Kan. Only one has breached or overtopped, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. One additional levee, near St. Joseph, MO, is within two feet of overtopping.

Non-Federal Levees: These 100 levees currently have a number of issues. Fourteen of them have been breached or overtopped. An additional 26 are within two feet of being overtopped.

The levees are under continued pressure from the flood waters. Most are saturated with water, making their integrity an issue. The Kansas City Star quotes a number of experts who expect additional levee failures. Most of the ten states in the Missouri River basin have activated National Guard units for flood fighting duties, including patrolling levees.

View the original article here

It's official: Record June runoff to swollen Missouri River (Reuters)

OMAHA, Neb (Reuters) – It has been obvious for a while from flooding downstream but now it is official: The swollen Missouri River received a record amount of rainfall and snowmelt runoff in June.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers said in a report released on Friday that June runoff into the river was 13.8 million acre-feet of water, topping the previous record set in 1952. It was the most runoff since the agency began keeping records in 1898.

What's more, the combined total runoff for May and June fell just short of the normal total runoff for an entire year.

Record water releases to relieve pressure on six reservoirs from Montana through South Dakota have strained flood defenses along the Missouri River and continued to breach a few levees downstream.

(Reporting by Kyle Peterson and David Hendee; Editing by Greg McCune)

View the original article here

Most Missouri River levees holding up to surge (AP)

By JOSH FUNK and GRANT SCHULTE, Associated Press Josh Funk And Grant Schulte, Associated Press – Thu Jun 16, 11:37 pm ET

HAMBURG, Iowa – The surge of water released from dams holding back the rain-swollen upper Missouri River reached deeper into Nebraska and Iowa on Thursday, headed swiftly toward Missouri and a soggy summer.

Almost all the levees along the way have held strong. There have been no significant injuries or deaths. Now comes the weeks of fretting and worry over whether levees in several states will continue to hold until the river starts to drop sometime this fall.

"The ongoing threat will be to the levees, which were designed to hold back water for a short period of time," said Derek Hill, administrator of Iowa's Homeland Security agency. "We don't know how they will perform if the water level remains high for several months."

Water from one levee breach, five miles south of the small town of Hamburg, Iowa, reached the partially evacuated community late Wednesday. There were no immediate problems with Hamburg's new 8-foot-tall backup levee, which officials scrambled to build during the past two weeks and where about 5 feet of water is eventually expected collect by Friday.

Upriver in South Sioux City, Neb., officials scrambled earlier this month to build a 7,000-foot-long levee to protect the city's northwest side. City Administrator Lance Hedquist said that levee is holding, and the floodwater hasn't even reached it yet in some places.

"Everything looks very good," Hedquist said. "Both levees are strong, healthy. I think our community is safe and well protected."

About six miles away in Dakota Dunes, S.D., a levee partially collapsed Thursday. The damaged section of the south levee was repaired and steps are being taken to prevent further erosion. But Gov. Dennis Daugaard said the partial collapse shows the potential for levee failure is a real danger.

Flooding along the Missouri River has already caused significant damage in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota over the past month, but no significant injuries or deaths.

The river has been rising for weeks as the corps releases increasing amounts of water from its upstream dams to make room in reservoirs for heavy spring rain and late snowmelt. Releases at Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota hit the maximum planned amount of 150,000 cubic feet of water per second Tuesday, and the corps doesn't plan to reduce the amount it's releasing from its dams until August at the earliest.

National Weather Service hydrologist Dave Pearson said the river levels are expected to remain high, and any significant rainfall could push the river higher.

"Any rain we get below Gavins Point is unregulated and flows right into the river," Pearson said.

That's why officials still predict the river downstream of the six dams could still swell to levels 5 to 7 feet above flood stage at most places in Nebraska and Iowa, and rise as much as 10 feet above flood stage at some places in Missouri.

In Nebraska and Iowa, the river remained about 1 foot below those levels on Thursday.

Col. Bob Ruch, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district commander in Omaha, said there are no plans to deliberately breach a levee along the Missouri as the Corps did during flooding earlier this year along the Mississippi River.

Among the reasons, he said, is there is no place behind Missouri River levees for the water to go.

"Omaha and Council Bluffs, you can literally see water from bluff to bluff," Ruch said. "The space is just not available and there is no plan to do so."

In Omaha, officials announced Thursday an evacuation plan for the unlikely possibility of widespread flooding in Nebraska's biggest city. Officials said roughly 2,700 Omaha residents would have to evacuate in that worse-case scenario.

Assistant Omaha fire chief Dan Stolinski said such an evacuation order would only be issued in the event of massive levee breach.

___

Funk reported from Omaha, Neb. Associated Press writers Timberly Ross in Omaha, Dirk Lammers in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Chet Brokaw in Pierre, S.D., contributed to this report.

___

Online:

National Weather Service river forecast: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfooax

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District: http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Kansas City District: http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil

View the original article here

Some Iowa residents dig in for Missouri River flooding (Reuters)

MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (Reuters) – Iowa residents were evacuating flood-prone areas near the Missouri River on Friday and state transportation officials accelerated plans to close part of Interstate 29 due to fast-rising waters.

In Missouri Valley, Iowa, north of Council Bluffs, that meant that David Wilson, his wife Jan Wilson and their dog were left alone among homes evacuated for a three-block area, waiting for the river to reach them on the west side of town.

"All those people are gone," the gray-haired David Wilson said, pointing out vacant homes a mile from the Missouri River. "They're gone. They're gone. And they're gone."

Residents have been shoring up levees along the Missouri River from Montana through Missouri as federal officials reach toward record planned water releases to relieve pressure on six major reservoirs swollen by heavy rains and melting snow.

Six dams from Fort Peck in Montana to Gavins Point on the South Dakota-Nebraska border are at peak releases now, or are planned to reach them by mid June, and hold them to at least mid August.

The river runs freely below Gavins Point for more than 800 miles to the Mississippi River, making those maximum releases planned to start Tuesday a focus for residents along the Lower Missouri, including those in Missouri Valley.

"I'm going to stay here as long as I can," Wilson said. "If the water comes up to the door, I'll put my waders on and get in my boat, which will be parked out front."

Wilson said he was pouring $1,000 into a barricade of concrete, wood and dirt to keep the basement of the house he bought in 1993 from flooding. He has sump pumps, and a generator if power is cut off.

Iowa transportation officials closed a 10-mile section of Interstate 29 north of Council Bluffs late Thursday, earlier than expected because of faster rising floodwaters.

HAMBURG LEVEE WORK CONTINUES

Flooding has disrupted Amtrak rail service on the Empire Builder through North Dakota and the California Zephyr that runs through Omaha. The U.S. Coast Guard has closed about 260 miles of the Missouri to boaters from Gavins Point south to where the borders of Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri meet.

In southwest Iowa, contractors were racing Friday to finish a secondary levee to protect Hamburg from an expected failure of a Missouri River levee that has had three partial breaches.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has little confidence the levee will withstand the full weight of the Missouri. About 300 of Hamburg's 1,200 residents are under mandatory evacuation.

"The Corps is still working hard to get the extra protection of the city dike around Hamburg finished because it is just a matter of time ... before it goes," said Mike Crecelius, emergency management director for Fremont County where Hamburg is located.

"It's not if it goes, it is when it goes."

Corps officials have warned more breaches are likely given the varying strengths of the flood protections and the height, speed and duration of planned water releases.

Heavy Montana rains this week have sharply increased flows into the Fort Peck reservoir, forcing the Corps to increase releases to 60,000 cubic feet per second on Friday, from previous plans for a rate of 50,000.

The Corps has said the Garrison Dam reservoir above Bismarck can handle the additional releases from Fort Peck and has left intact its planned maximum releases at 150,000 cubic feet per second from the other five dams.

Montana officials on Friday reported scores of impassable roads and bridges and worsening flooding in the Missouri River valley, as well as in the Columbia River basin on the other side of the Continental Divide.

Dozens of families evacuated Sun River west of Great Falls when water up to 3 feet deep spilled over from the Sun River, and Roundup in central Montana was accessible only by boat or helicopter due to flooding on the Musselshell River.

On Thursday, a levee breach prompted evacuation warnings for residents near the confluence of the Clark Fork River and Rock Creek east of Missoula in the Columbia River basin.

West of Missoula, the Corps raced to build levees along the Clark Fork after overflows flooded some basements.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis, Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho, and Kay Henderson in Des Moines; Editing by Jerry Norton)

View the original article here

Army Engineers, National Guard Fight Missouri River Flooding (ContributorNetwork)

The Missouri River flows for 2,341 miles, the longest river in North America. Its watershed covers all or part of 10 states and it is regulated by six major dams operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. Heavy rains and a large winter snow pack have brought the river to record levels. States throughout the watershed have activated National Guard units to assist local and state authorities in the ongoing flood fight.

Montana

The Montana National Guard is working at several sites in the state. Troops are working traffic control points in the Crow Agency and near Roundup, according to the Billings Gazette, preventing civilians from using roads or bridges that are unsafe due to flooding. Both the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers in the state are continuing to rise.

The Fort Peck dam and reservoir represent the largest of the Corps projects on the Missouri. The dam is releasing excess water from the reservoir.

North Dakota

In North Dakota, both the Missouri and its tributaries are rising. Minot and Bismark are the major cities impacted, according to the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System. The North Dakota National Guard has spent weeks raising levee heights and preparing temporary levees. The troops are now concentrating on levee patrol and traffic control checkpoints. 15.5 miles of levees are being patrolled by the Guard, looking for damage, sand boils and seepage. 1,200 National Guard soldiers and airmen are activated at this time.

Water levels remain high in Bismark. Flooding in Bismark is due to water releases from the Garrison Dam. The Corps of Engineers has been forced to open the spillway gates at the dam for the first time. The Missouri River is above flood stage at this time and is expected to crest in mid-June at least two feet higher than its current level.

South Dakota

In Pierre, S.D., the Missouri River remains nearly six feet above flood stage. Located just up river from the city is the Oahe Dam and Reservoir, another Army Corps of Engineers flood control project. Water releases from this dam began in late May. The spillway gates at Big Bend Dam have also been opened. This is the first time in history the spillway gates have been opened to release flood waters. This dam and lake are downstream from Pierre.

The South Dakota Army National Guard has almost 1,300 soldiers and airmen working on flood control activities. The missions are identical to those in other states: sandbagging, levee construction and patrol, traffic control and potential rescues.

Nebraska

Both the Platte and the Missouri rivers are flooding in Nebraska, reports the Omaha World-Herald. The City of Omaha has extensive levee protection from the Missouri, and the Corps of Engineers projects that the river will remain at least four feet below the levee tops through August. 59 National Guardsmen have been activated, most to help seal a levee breech along the Platte.

Iowa

Some 400 members of the Iowa National Guard, with Air Guardsmen from Minnesota and Illinois, are working on a number of flood control projects, including sandbagging, flight operations in support of flood control missions and levee patrols. The Missouri is currently 2.8 feet above flood level in Sioux City, Iowa.

Missouri

Missouri is where the Missouri River finally empties into the Mississippi. Missouri National Guard personnel are waiting, according to the Monitor. While still involved in the recovery efforts from the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin, Mo., they are moving back into flood fighting mode. They have already spent weeks on Mississippi River flooding, with the last unit ending its work the morning after the Joplin tornado.

The Missouri is five feet above flood stage at St. Joseph. At Jefferson City, it is just inches below flood stage.

Upstate New York resident Charles Simmins brings 30 years of accounting and finance experience and a keen interest in military affairs to the news of the day. His years of experience working with the personnel of the Secretary of Defense's New Media activity on Bloggers' Roundtables provide insights often overlooked by other reporters.

View the original article here

More rain could worsen flooding along Missouri River (Reuters)

MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (Reuters) – Unwelcome waves of thunderstorms dumped rain and hail in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on Thursday and heavy rain fell in Montana this week that could make historic Missouri River flooding worse.

At Omaha, Nebraska, the Missouri River reached 30.4 feet overnight, the second highest level behind the historic 1952 flood, and federal officials said a levee near Hamburg, Iowa, sustained a third partial breach on Thursday morning.

Iowa officials said they were preparing to close parts of Interstate 29 from Sioux City to Council Bluffs by late Friday, including a section that runs by Missouri Valley, Iowa.

"Nobody knows how much we'll get," said Jeff Ellis, owner of several gas stations/convenience stores in Missouri Valley, Iowa, and across the river in Blair, Nebraska, of the flooding. "Two feet, zero feet, nobody knows. It's all a guess."

Slow moving storms dumped rain across Missouri Valley on Thursday afternoon, causing street flooding along U.S. Highway 30, which runs east-west through town. At an Ellis station, 15 people soaked to the skin heaved hundreds of sandbags.

"I grabbed a bunch of college kids and high school guys from Blair, good guys," Ellis said, shaking his head as rain poured down. "We're going to sandbag the front and the side."

Rain is forecast for six of the next seven days in the area around Omaha, but more across the river in Iowa.

"I'm sure to those who are monitoring how much water is being stored and released from reservoirs ... I'm sure any rainfall would be considered a concern to them," said Jim Meyer, meteorologist in charge for the National Weather Service in the Omaha area.

Meyer said a lot of the precipitation has already been factored into forecasts given to federal officials.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers added to planned water releases from the Fort Peck Dam in Montana for a second consecutive day due to hard rains.

About 260 miles of the Missouri have been closed to boaters from Gavins Point Dam south to where the borders of Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri meet. That is near where sandbags were dropped by helicopter to patch a partial levee breach Sunday that threatens the town of Hamburg, Iowa.

The Corps does not expect the levee repairs to withstand the full weight of the Missouri and contractors are racing to raise a secondary levee to protect Hamburg by June 14, when peak water releases are planned from Gavins Point.

HEAVY MONTANA RAINS

From Montana through Missouri residents have been shoring up levees along the Missouri River ahead of planned record water releases from its six major dams to relieve pressure on reservoirs swollen by heavy rains and melting snow.

Volunteers were placing sandbags around a Warren Distribution facility in Council Bluffs on Thursday across the Missouri River from Omaha.

The river has six dams from Fort Peck in Montana to Gavins Point on the South Dakota-Nebraska border. It runs freely below Gavins Point the more than 800 miles to the Mississippi River, making that dam a focus for people along the Lower Missouri.

All of the dams are planned to reach maximum release rates by about mid June and hold them through at least mid August.

Up to five inches of rain fell in parts of Montana from Monday through Wednesday, forcing the Corps to increase planned releases to 60,000 cubic feet per second at Fort Peck and warn that the rate could be increased from there.

The Montana rains forced fresh evacuations due to overflows on tributaries, including in Nashua downstream of Fort Peck, and in flood-battered Roundup on the Musselshell River.

The Corps said the Garrison Dam reservoir above Bismarck, North Dakota, had capacity to handle the additional releases from Fort Peck and has left intact its planned maximum releases at 150,000 cubic feet per second from the other five dams.

The Missouri River forms the northwest portion of the Mississippi River basin that stretches from Montana to western New York and funnels water south into the Gulf of Mexico.

Thousands of South Dakota and North Dakota residents have voluntarily left homes in communities protected by hastily built sandbag barriers and levees ahead of peak releases.

On Thursday, officials cautioned that the sustained record flows could still threaten levees in the Dakotas now holding.

Corps officials also have warned that more breaches like the one near Hamburg are likely given the varying strengths of the flood protections and the height, speed and duration of planned releases of water from reservoirs.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis, James Kelleher in Chicago and Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho; Editing by Greg McCune and Jerry Norton)

(Corrects paragraph 14 to reflect that Warren Distribution was conducting sandbag operation, not Ameristar Casino)

View the original article here

More rain could worsen flooding along Missouri River (Reuters)

MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (Reuters) – Unwelcome waves of thunderstorms dumped rain and hail in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on Thursday and heavy rain fell in Montana this week that could make historic Missouri River flooding worse.

At Omaha, Nebraska, the Missouri River reached 30.4 feet overnight, the second highest level behind the historic 1952 flood, and federal officials said a levee near Hamburg, Iowa, sustained a third partial breach on Thursday morning.

Iowa officials said they were preparing to close parts of Interstate 29 from Sioux City to Council Bluffs by late Friday, including a section that runs by Missouri Valley, Iowa.

"Nobody knows how much we'll get," said Jeff Ellis, owner of several gas stations/convenience stores in Missouri Valley, Iowa, and across the river in Blair, Nebraska, of the flooding. "Two feet, zero feet, nobody knows. It's all a guess."

Slow moving storms dumped rain across Missouri Valley on Thursday afternoon, causing street flooding along U.S. Highway 30, which runs east-west through town. At an Ellis station, 15 people soaked to the skin heaved hundreds of sandbags.

"I grabbed a bunch of college kids and high school guys from Blair, good guys," Ellis said, shaking his head as rain poured down. "We're going to sandbag the front and the side."

Rain is forecast for six of the next seven days in the area around Omaha, but more across the river in Iowa.

"I'm sure to those who are monitoring how much water is being stored and released from reservoirs ... I'm sure any rainfall would be considered a concern to them," said Jim Meyer, meteorologist in charge for the National Weather Service in the Omaha area.

Meyer said a lot of the precipitation has already been factored into forecasts given to federal officials.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers added to planned water releases from the Fort Peck Dam in Montana for a second consecutive day due to hard rains.

About 260 miles of the Missouri have been closed to boaters from Gavins Point Dam south to where the borders of Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri meet. That is near where sandbags were dropped by helicopter to patch a partial levee breach Sunday that threatens the town of Hamburg, Iowa.

The Corps does not expect the levee repairs to withstand the full weight of the Missouri and contractors are racing to raise a secondary levee to protect Hamburg by June 14, when peak water releases are planned from Gavins Point.

HEAVY MONTANA RAINS

From Montana through Missouri residents have been shoring up levees along the Missouri River ahead of planned record water releases from its six major dams to relieve pressure on reservoirs swollen by heavy rains and melting snow.

Volunteers were placing sandbags around a Warren Distribution facility in Council Bluffs on Thursday across the Missouri River from Omaha.

The river has six dams from Fort Peck in Montana to Gavins Point on the South Dakota-Nebraska border. It runs freely below Gavins Point the more than 800 miles to the Mississippi River, making that dam a focus for people along the Lower Missouri.

All of the dams are planned to reach maximum release rates by about mid June and hold them through at least mid August.

Up to five inches of rain fell in parts of Montana from Monday through Wednesday, forcing the Corps to increase planned releases to 60,000 cubic feet per second at Fort Peck and warn that the rate could be increased from there.

The Montana rains forced fresh evacuations due to overflows on tributaries, including in Nashua downstream of Fort Peck, and in flood-battered Roundup on the Musselshell River.

The Corps said the Garrison Dam reservoir above Bismarck, North Dakota, had capacity to handle the additional releases from Fort Peck and has left intact its planned maximum releases at 150,000 cubic feet per second from the other five dams.

The Missouri River forms the northwest portion of the Mississippi River basin that stretches from Montana to western New York and funnels water south into the Gulf of Mexico.

Thousands of South Dakota and North Dakota residents have voluntarily left homes in communities protected by hastily built sandbag barriers and levees ahead of peak releases.

On Thursday, officials cautioned that the sustained record flows could still threaten levees in the Dakotas now holding.

Corps officials also have warned that more breaches like the one near Hamburg are likely given the varying strengths of the flood protections and the height, speed and duration of planned releases of water from reservoirs.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis, James Kelleher in Chicago and Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho; Editing by Greg McCune and Jerry Norton)

(Corrects paragraph 14 to reflect that Warren Distribution was conducting sandbag operation, not Ameristar Casino)

View the original article here

South Dakota levees tested as Missouri River waters rise (Reuters)

By James B. Kelleher James B. Kelleher – 1 hr 10 mins ago

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Levees hastily erected along the Missouri River in central South Dakota were holding on Sunday as flooding caused by heavy spring rains and a melting winter snowpack continued to raise the waters toward record levels, officials said.

But the pressure on the earthen berms in Pierre and Fort Pierre, and the anxiety of area residents, will continue to increase through Tuesday, when the water being released at a dam just above the two towns reaches its peak of 150,000 cubic feet (4,247.5 cubic meters) per second -- nearly double the 85,000 cubic feet per second being released last week.

Officials have not yet ordered mandatory evacuations in the state. But as many as 3,000 Pierre and Fort Pierre residents, and more than 800 of the 1,100 homes over 250 miles away in Dakota Dunes, are threatened.

So far, the releases from the Oahe Dam have raised water levels along the Missouri in the state more than a foot.

"All the levees are holding at this hour," said Nathan Sanderson, spokesman for the Southeast Incident Management Team, which is warily watching the creeping floodwaters in Dakota Dunes in the extreme southeastern part of the state.

Sanderson said the evacuations there continued to be voluntary but added that officials were "encouraging people to leave."

Police have tried to reassure wary residents that their homes will be watched and access to their neighborhoods controlled.

"We know citizens are extremely worried during this time," said Union County Sheriff Dan Limoge.

"We hope to ease some of their concerns by assuring them that their homes will be vigilantly watched around the clock until this situation has passed."

RECORD SNOW, RAIN

Record snowfall at the Missouri's headwaters this winter and record rainfall this spring have swollen the Mississippi tributary and pushed the dams and reservoirs along it that are designed to control the usual seasonal surge this time of year to their limit.

So to protect them, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been slowly opening up the dams and reservoirs upstream, gradually lifting river water levels downstream from North Dakota and South Dakota,

The U.S. Coast Guard has closed a more than 180-mile (290-kilometer) stretch of the river from near Sioux City, Iowa, south due to high water.

Farther downstream, the river is beginning to swell beyond its banks in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri and officials braced for evacuations and built levees. The maximum planned release rates could push the river up to seven feet above flood stage at Sioux City, Omaha and Kansas City.

The result is a creeping problem expected to continue into July, adding to an already record season of flooding in the Midwest, where the rising waters of the Mississippi River caused forced evacuations and intentional inundation of thousands of acres in April and May.

The Missouri is expected to continue to rise rapidly in Pierre until Tuesday, when controlled releases from the Oahe reach maximum levels -- where they may hold for weeks.

In Montana, the Corps has increased water flows from Fort Peck Dam and widespread flooding of tributaries has forced hundreds of evacuations and inundated several smaller cities.

The Missouri River basin forms the northwest section of the Mississippi River system that stretches from the Rockies to western New York in the north and funnels water down through Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Jerry Norton)

View the original article here

Part of Missouri River closed amid flooding (AFP)

CHICAGO (AFP) – The US Coast Guard has closed a section of the swollen Missouri River to recreational vessels because of high water levels and flooding.

"This measure will be in effect until the water levels decrease in order to ensure the safety of the boating public," Captain Steve Hudson, Coast Guard's commanding officer for the region, said in a statement.

The 182-mile (293-kilometer) section begins in Yankton, South Dakota and goes southward. Commercial vessels have voluntarily ceased operations there, the Coast Guard said.

Above-normal snowpack and torrential rains in recent weeks have raised flooding fears along the Missouri, one of the world's longest rivers at 2,340 miles (3,766 kilometers).

The US Army Corps of Engineers reported Friday that reservoirs are at capacity, requiring the release of large amounts of water from all dams.

"There's flooding that's going on up river. There's a lot of water and debris coming down the river. It's going to be dangerous for recreational vessels," Chief Warrant Officer Ancil Brown said.

Significant flooding in cities, towns and agricultural land was expected in the Great Plains states of North and South Dakota, according to the Army Corps. Several thousand residents have evacuated in recent days.

South Dakota has issued an emergency declaration "in anticipation of flooding in areas along the river," the Coast Guard said in its statement.

The Coast Guard has staged a disaster "response team" in the area to help any rescue missions that may occur.

View the original article here

Obama vows national response to Missouri tornado (Reuters)

JOPLIN, Missouri (Reuters) – President Barack Obama promised victims of the deadliest U.S. tornado in 65 years that the federal government would help them rebuild, saying on Sunday it was a national tragedy.

"The cameras may leave. The spotlight may shift," he told a memorial service for the 139 known victims of the May 22 twister. But the federal government "will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored and this community is back on its feet," Obama said to a standing ovation from survivors.

Before the service in an auditorium at Missouri Southern State University, Obama rolled up his sleeves and toured a disaster scene where crushed cars, piles of wood, clothing and a broken dishwasher lay helter-skelter amid the debris on lots where houses once stood.

The president, who returned on Saturday night from a six-day trip to Europe, vowed to cut through any federal red tape to help with rebuilding that he predicted would be "a tough, long slog."

"This is just not your tragedy," he said after meeting survivors. "This is a national tragedy and that means there's going to be a national response."

The tornado was the deadliest single twister in the United States since 1947. In addition to the at least 139 people killed and more than 900 injured, scores are still unaccounted for a week later.

The tornado churned through a stretch nearly a mile wide, damaging about 8,000 buildings in Joplin, a city of 50,000 in southwestern Missouri.

Standing amid the rubble under a scorching sun, Obama told reporters that he had heard some "harrowing stories" as well as some miraculous ones.

He said he had spoken with an 85-year-old man, Hugh Hills, who had just taken a chicken pot pie out of the oven when the storm was approaching.

"He went into the closet and came out without a scratch," Obama said. Hills, before meeting the president, stood outside his mostly destroyed house holding a large American flag on a pole, his family around him.

"These are just things," a woman nearby said, pointing to the debris and the house. "We're just glad Grandpa made it."

The president got a bird's eye view of the damage from his plane before landing. He was accompanied on the tour by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, both fellow Democrats.

"As president, I can promise you your country will be with you every single step of the way," Obama said at the memorial service. He said he had made the same commitment to other communities devastated by tornadoes in recent weeks and months, including Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Sandra Maler and Bill Trott) .

View the original article here

Traumatized Joplin on edge as more storms rake Missouri (Reuters)

JOPLIN, Mo (Reuters) – Traumatized residents kept a wary eye on storm clouds hanging on Wednesday over the shredded remains of a large portion of this city.

Chainsaws and hammering could be heard in the neighborhoods surrounding the hardest hit areas three days after a devastating tornado ripped through this town of 50,000, killing 125 and injuring at least 823.

Residents took advantage of hours of sunlight to check their property and clear debris. But as adrenaline and shock faded, residents near the damaged zone described a fear of every rumbling in the wind.

Overnight, another wave of killer tornadoes roared across the Midwest, leaving at least nine people dead in Oklahoma, four dead in Arkansas and two in Kansas, officials said.

And on Wednesday, several fast-moving, strong storms raked Missouri, triggering tornado warnings all across the state.

Jerry Harris rode out 200 miles-per-hour winds with his daughter in a closet in his friend's homes, which was all that remained of the residence after the storm passed.

The 42-year-old had years of training as a 911 dispatcher, he said, but felt panic the next morning when he heard the rumbling of a heavy truck.

"It just scared me to death," Harris said.

Now, he is obsessed with having all his children around during storm warnings to assure himself they are safe.

Rick Rice, a 57-year-old truck driver, said he would never again dismiss the sirens he ignored Sunday. He had continued to remodel his bathroom as the tornado approached. The storm left his home uninhabitable.

Now he spends his day monitoring the Internet for weather updates haunted by the roaring of the wind.

"When I hear the noise, I can't get it out of my mind," Rice said.

Even residents who missed the worst of the storm changed habits. Greg Salzer, a 37-year-old social worker, watched the tornado from a safe distance. He and his wife restocked their storm shelter the next day with shoes, important papers and dog leashes.

"We spent Monday going through the storm shelter cleaning," he said.

On Wednesday, he was helping his uncle, 66-year-old Frederick Dalton, clean debris not far from a ruined hospital.

Dalton said he had walked for blocks after the storm to find his wife safe at a destroyed church.

The Joplin tornado on Sunday was rated an EF-5, the highest possible on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado power and intensity, with winds of at least 200 miles per hour.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher)

View the original article here

Joplin Tornado Videos: Five Looks at the Deadly Missouri Storm (ContributorNetwork)

JOPLIN, Mo. -- I drove from Branson, in southern Missouri, to Joplin to check on my sister-in-law and her family on Sunday. We arrived in Joplin around 8 p.m. to help my wife's family, who live south of town. Everyone in my family is OK after the devastating storm.

We saw the aftermath. But it was local media and storm chasers who captured the deadly tornado in action and on video. Here are some of the initial videos that show the massive tornado as it hit Joplin.

KSN -- Watch

Local station KSN was broadcasting live as the tornado sirens sounded and the storm hit. A camera mounted on the tower captured the scene from a bird's-eye view. Someone in their home recorded the event unfolding on television from their living room.

There are two things notable about the television station coverage. First, initially the weather man at the station said the flashes of light may have been caused by lightning. He quickly changed his tone as the camera picked up electrical transformers blowing out. Second, viewers could see the tornado increasing in size as the camera followed it. Everyone in the studio is heard saying "take cover right now!"

Unfortunately, the girl on the live broadcast didn't help. Toward the end of the video, she said "I don't think it's going to hit our station, but take cover anyways."

Storm Chasers -- Watch

This second video recounts the formation of the tornado as it started and is perhaps the best video of the massive funnel. The life of the tornado looks innocent enough as it is very skinny and appears to be out in the countryside away from houses. But then the tornado gets very wide and thick in what seems like an instant.

The tornado chasers also surveyed part of the damage immediately following the tornado traveling down one of the main streets of Joplin. It's interesting, in a frightening way, to compare this video on the ground to the one from the television tower in the air to see the tornado from both perspectives.

First Person Video: Taking Shelter -- Watch

One man captured five minutes of video from residents taking shelter at a local convenience store in the heart of the destruction zone. If you truly want to know what it's like to be terrified in a tornado, this video is the one to watch.

It's dark in the back of the convenience store. You can hear children whimpering and crying as their mom tries to comfort them. Then, after a minute, you can see lightning flashes from outside the glass window. The manager tells everyone to get down and low to the ground.

Suddenly, you hear wind picking up at about two minutes and 10 seconds into the video. Then the screaming and praying ensues. Less than a minute later, all that is heard is a massive roar of wind. At the very end, the video cuts to a scene that looks like part of the roof that had collapsed into the building.

Tornado Alley Video -- Watch

Storm chasers Jeff and Kathryn Piotrowski were taking video in Joplin as the tornado roared through town. The debris field in the middle of the tornado is fairly well defined and intense. All I could think about when I saw the wood and dust gathering in the tornado was that those were people's homes.

YouTube: RevolutionNo1 -- Watch

These people in a vehicle aired 12 minutes of tornado video on YouTube. Warning, there are some strong curse words used in the video. The footage starts on North Rangeline near the Northpark Mall and the vehicle proceeds to the south. The videographer is pointing the camera to the west -- the initial spot of the twister.

They pass the Toys "R" Us and proceed into the areas hardest hit by the storm before it passes. About four minutes into the video, the passenger seat person named Roger comments on the light not turning green at Rangeline and 20th. The driver suggests taking shelter in the Home Depot across the street.

Despite the fact that it's around 5:30 p.m. in the early evening and the sun should be shining brightly, the view to the west is pitch black as the twister advances. At the 5:40 mark of the video, the horizontal rain is upon the vehicle and one passenger says just floor it and get out of here. The engine revs up. At about seven minutes, they debate taking shelter or to get on Interstate 44 and outrun the tornado as hail pelts the car.

Just after nine minutes, the main voice comments there are 160 knots of shear two miles away. That translates into wind speeds of 184 mph. Just eight minutes beyond the time the driver was commenting on taking shelter at Home Depot, the building was destroyed. Roger's advice to get on the interstate may have saved their lives.

William Browning lives in Branson, Mo.

View the original article here

Obama to view tornado zone in Missouri on Sunday (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he will visit a devastated section of Missouri on Sunday where 116 people were killed by a monster tornado.

Obama, making a statement from the U.S. ambassador's residence in London as he begins a state visit to Britain, said his message to those affected by storms in the Midwestern United States is that the federal government stands by them.

"All we can do is let them know that all of America cares deeply about them and that we are going to do absolutely everything we can to make sure that they recover," he said.

Obama is on a week-long, four-nation Europe tour and is to return to Washington on Saturday.

"Like all Americans, we have been monitoring what's been taking place very closely and have been...heartbroken by the images we've seen," Obama told reporters.

He said beyond the death toll, other people remain missing and hundreds more were injured.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who are suffering at this moment," he said.

Obama said he and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had spoken to the Missouri governor, Jay Nixon.

"We've offered him not only our condolences, but we've told him that we will give him every ounce of resources the federal government may have that we can bring to bear on this situation."

Obama said during his trip to Missouri on Sunday, he will talk to families affected by the storm "hopefully to pray with folks and give them whatever assurance and comfort I can that the entire country is going to be behind them."

He urged Americans in storm zones to heed warnings to seek safety during a deadly spring in which storms across Southern states last month killed more than 300 people and caused more than $2 billion in property damage.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland)

View the original article here