Hundreds of homes damaged by weather in the Midwest

(Des Moines) Hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed by flooding in the upper Midwestern United States are among the first victims of extreme weather hitting the region as floodwaters move south.

Strong storms also hit parts of the northeast on Wednesday and Thursday, initially knocking out power to some 250,000 people in the region.

In Connecticut, a man was killed when a tree fell overnight, authorities said. Crews used a chainsaw to free the man, who was pronounced dead.

In western Pennsylvania, the storms likely spawned at least three tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service. The suspected tornadoes touched down parts of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, and crews were there Thursday to survey the damage. The storms also brought heavy rain and gusts of up to 70 miles per hour to the region, bringing down power lines and trees and damaging some homes and other structures. No injuries were reported.

Parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota have been besieged by flooding from torrential rains since last week, while suffering from a sweltering heat wave. Up to 46 centimeters of rain fell in some areas, pushing some rivers to record levels. Hundreds of people were rescued and at least two people died after driving through flooded areas.

In Iowa, other cities prepared for flooding, but some were spared. The West Fork of the Des Moines River crested Wednesday evening at about 15 feet, where it will linger a little longer before the waters begin to recede. Humboldt County Emergency Manager Kyle Bissell breathed a sigh of relief Thursday morning upon hearing the news, noting that while the swollen river had damaged several dozen homes, the threat of more damage had receded.

“They had a lot of time to prepare and they did a good job,” he said of Humboldt homes and businesses.

Bissell said between 50 and 75 homes reported minor damage as water seeped into basements, fewer than the 200 homes expected. Only a few unoccupied summer cabins appear to have suffered significant damage.

A levee on the Little Sioux River in Monona County, Iowa, was damaged by flooding, but county emergency coordinator Patrick Prorok said Wednesday that the flooding was being contained by another segment of the levee system. That levee is the only federal levee to fail in the area, according to the Omaha District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In the coming days, Nebraska and northwest Missouri should begin to see the effects of downstream flooding. Many streams and rivers may not reach their crest until later this week. The Missouri River will crest in Omaha on Thursday, said Kevin Low, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service.

Some of the most striking images were of floodwaters surging around the Minnesota Dam.

Blue Earth County officials said Wednesday that the river had moved wider and deeper into the riverbank and that they were concerned about the integrity of a nearby bridge spanning the river. Once the flooding subsides, the county will have to decide whether to repair the dam or remove it, with both options costing millions of dollars.

Preliminary information from the National Weather Service shows that recent flooding brought record levels to more than a dozen locations in South Dakota and Iowa, surpassing previous peaks by about a meter on average.

These floods devastated neighborhoods in some riverside communities in South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska, including in North Sioux City, South Dakota, where streets collapsed, utility poles and trees were destroyed. torn away, and several houses were carried off their foundations.

Many roads were closed due to flooding, including Highways 29 and 680 in Iowa, near the Nebraska border.