Floods
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Cloud Lightning

US: Kentucky - More Heavy Rains, Flooding Concerns

Gary Lacy
WTVQ.com
Tue, 03 May 2011 17:30 UTC
Heavy rains have returned to the Bluegrass.

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© WTVQ
Lexington has been receiving the rains throughout the morning, and it will continue falling throughout the day.

Areas in Franklin, Woodford, and Scott counties are also seeing heavy rains bring causing big concerns for drivers as water is ponding on roadways.

As flooding intensifies in western Kentucky, the commonwealth has opened a Regional Emergency Coordination Center at the Benton Armory in Marshall County. The center assists local emergency response efforts, allowing local, state, and federal officials to coordinate broad emergency responses across the region. Governor Steve Beshear is planning to return to western Kentucky, where flooding has forced evacuations and National Guard troops
have been sent in to help.

Beshear was planning to visit Paducah, Hickman and Benton today. On Monday, officials said more than 100 troops were helping with evacuations in the cities of Ledbetter in Livingston County and Hickman in Fulton County. Smithland was also being evacuated. The lower Ohio River is expected to crest at 58 feet, three feet above an earlier prediction.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Heavy Rains Drench North Texas


KDAF-TV
Tue, 03 May 2011 17:27 UTC
The steady rain for much of the day made driving a miserable task for North Texans today.

"Yeah, going kind of slow, trying to be safe," said Driver Eddie Rocha.

"I think it's ridiculous. I want to expect the sun out, not rain. It makes us drive slower to work, from work and to work," said Dallas Resident Maribel Jaramillo.

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Cloud Lightning

US: Hawaii forecast calls for another day of wild weather


KHON
Tue, 03 May 2011 17:19 UTC
There is a weather disturbance nearby that has triggered the thunderstorms, heavy rains and even hail on Kula, Maui.


Currently most of the storm activity is centered over Maui county and Oahu.

However, downpours occurred over all islands from the Big Island and Kauai included.

Molokai and Lanai are seeing heavy downpours and on Oahu the heavy's rains are over central Oahu near Milalani but could move on to other areas.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Army Corps Breaks Southeast Missouri Levee

Jim Suhr and Jim Salter
Associated Press
Mon, 02 May 2011 22:52 UTC
mailbox in floodwaters
© AP Photo
Wyatt, Mo. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers exploded a large section of a Mississippi River levee Monday in a desperate attempt to protect an Illinois town from rising floodwaters.

The corps said the break in the Birds Point levee would help tiny Cairo, Ill., by diverting up to 4 feet of water off the river. Just before Monday night's explosions, river levels at Cairo were at historic highs and creating pressure on the floodwall protecting the town.

For the Missouri side, the blasts were likely unleashing a muddy torrent into empty farm fields and around evacuated homes in Mississippi County.

Brief but bright orange flashes could be seen above the river as the explosions went off just after 10 p.m. The blasts lasted only about two seconds. Darkness kept reporters, who were more than a half mile off the river, from seeing how fast the water was moving into the farmland.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Levee in flood area to be blown up; dam spills over


MSNBC
Mon, 02 May 2011 16:35 UTC
Water breaches levee
© Paul Davis / The Daily American Republic via APWater flows over the Wappapello Lake emergency spillway on the St. Francis River in Wayne County, Mo., on Monday. Several roads have been closed in southeast Missouri after heavy overnight rains pushed lakes and streams out of their banks.
Army Corps of Engineers gives green light after pumping in liquid explosives

Cairo, Illinois - As more rain fell Monday across southeast Missouri on Monday, water spilled over one dam, forcing road closures, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave the go-ahead to blow up a levee in another county.

In Wayne County, water burst through the Wappapello Lake emergency spillway on the St. Francis River. Several roads were closed there and in other areas as lakes and streams were pushed out of their banks.

In nearby Mississippi County, the Army Corps of Engineers decided to blast a levee, flooding farmland but protecting an Illinois town where most residents already have been forced to flee from a rising river.
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Cloud Lightning

U.S.: Flooding in central Arkansas

Ethan C. Nobles
First Arkansas News
Mon, 02 May 2011 16:46 UTC
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It's been a turbulent spring thus far in Arkansas and this weekend was no exception.

Here in central Arkansas, flood conditions rolled in with the rains that started Saturday night and continued through Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, four to eight inches of rain fell during the weekend and more heavy rain is in the forecast through Tuesday.

Here in Benton, the Saline River serves as a handy guide as to how much rain has fallen. If the river is out of its banks, it's a sure bet that heavy rains are common throughout Saline County. The Saline River was out of its banks, indeed, and the following pictures taken about 6 p.m. in Benton on Sunday are proof.
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Cloud Precipitation

US: Heavy Rains Keep Missouri Levee-Blast Plans on Track

Joe Barrett
The Wall Street Journal
Mon, 02 May 2011 16:36 UTC
Mid west flood map
© NOAAA series of storms has elevated river levels across the Midwest and South in the past few days.
Heavy rains overnight lifted the river level at Cairo, Ill., Monday morning to nearly a foot and a half beyond its 1937 record, as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continued to pack a Missouri levee with explosives to prepare to activate an emergency floodway.

On Sunday, Justice Samuel Alito of the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by Missouri to stop the Corps from blowing a two-mile-wide hole in a levee at Birds Point, Mo. The move would send a wall of water over 130,000 acres of prime farmland and the homes of about 200 people. Residents were ordered to evacuate last week.
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Cloud Precipitation

Flood waters receding slightly in northeast Arkansas, but more rain falling in rest of state


The Republic
Mon, 02 May 2011 16:16 UTC
Little Rock, Arkansas - One person has died as strong storms continued throughout Arkansas on Sunday, exacerbating flooding problems in a state already saturated from recent rain.

Flood watches continued throughout most of the state. Officials are particularly concerned about the White River, which flows through north-central Arkansas before tracing a course south and east until it meets the Mississippi River. On Sunday morning, the river was at 32.3 feet at Augusta, more than six feet above flood stage, and it's predicted to crest at 33.5 feet on Thursday morning.

The flooding in the area could affect White, Woodruff, Independence and Jackson counties. There's also some concern about the Black River in northeastern Arkansas, although National Weather Service hydrologist Tabitha Clarke in Little Rock said Sunday "there's nothing that will exceed the crest they've already experienced."

Forecasters say the rain likely won't stop in Arkansas until early Tuesday.
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Cloud Lightning

U.S.: Portion of Prairie County, Arkansas evacuated due to fears about flood waters from White River


Daily Reporter
Mon, 02 May 2011 16:11 UTC
Little Rock, Arkansas - Neighborhoods in Prairie County are being evacuated because of fears about rising flood waters from the White River.

Spokesman Davis Bell with the county's emergency operations said Monday that between 200 and 300 households in flood-prone areas east of the White River at Des Arc and Biscoe were being notified of the evacuation order. County officials say roads in the area will soon be impassable due to flooding.

Bell said officials are concerned about the rising waters from flash floods and whether levees along the river will be able to hold. Volunteers are going door to door to notify residents of the evacuation order.

Shelters are available in Des Arc churches, the Hazen Armory and the DeValls Bluff Gym.
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Cloud Lightning

Canada: Saskatchewan Flood Barrier Broken by Wind


CBC News
Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:10 UTC
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© Kent Morrisson/CBCThirty-seven homes and cottages on Katepwa Lake, east of Regina, were flooded after a section of berm was overwhelmed by water whipped up by strong winds.
Community exhausted by water fight

Strong prairie winds have pushed water through a section of sandbag berms that were protecting homes and cabins on Katepwa Lake, east of Regina.

Wind gusts that reached 60 kilometres an hour on Friday night whipped up the water on the lake, which has been rising precipitously for the past week.

"The waves just kept coming in and took down the wall and all the hard work that everybody put in for the last two weeks," Don Ferguson, a local cabin owner, told CBC News on Saturday. "It's unbelievable."

Local officials said 37 properties flooded. Of those, 11 were permanent homes. A voluntary evacuation was in place for the flooded area.

Ferguson said that at one point, lake water was pouring down onto people working on the dry side of the berm.
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