© REUTERSIce blocks brought by flood waters lie on the road in Howard County, Nebraska, US, on March 13, 2019.
A powerful, late-winter "bomb cyclone" storm pushed into the US Midwest and the Great Lakes region on Friday (March 15), causing flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, stranding herds of cattle and raising alarms at a Nebraska nuclear power plant.
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts issued an emergency declaration for the state, citing forecasts of up to 0.61m of snow and high winds that are expected to make travel "difficult to impossible" on roads.
"Nebraskans should watch the forecast closely in the coming days and be prepared for severe weather events in conjunction with potential historic flooding," Mr Ricketts said in the declaration.
"As Nebraskans know, conditions can change quickly, and everyone needs to be prepared."
Ranchers posted images on social media of their cattle being dug out of snowdrifts or stranded in fields.
"Widespread and extremely dangerous flooding will continue today and tonight," the National Weather Service office in Omaha, Nebraska, said on Friday in a statement.
Comment: 3 individuals of the same species also washed up at the same location of Angel Island last year.