2007 Midwest flooding
While Hurricane Dean was affecting the Yucatán Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico, and Tropical Storm Erin was affecting Oklahoma and Texas, a persistent storm system hung over the Midwest for several days, causing repeated flash flooding in the US states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Warm, moist air pushing over the frontal boundary fueled showers and thunderstorms that moved in a west-to-east fashion, training over the same areas for hours at a time.
Some parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa saw moderate to heavy rain for nearly a full day before the activity finally cleared out.
Similarly, the front was the focus for thunderstorm development, and the precipitation continued moving over the same areas, leading to extended periods of heavy rainfall.
Tornado warnings were issued during the first round of storms, which produced wind gusts as high as 80 miles per hour (130 km/h); the highest being reported in Manhattan.
[17] Governor Rod Blagojevich declared McHenry, Lake, Cook (including Chicago), DuPage, and Kane counties to be disaster areas after the storm.
[18] Officials in Ogle County recommended that people in low-lying areas along the Rock River, and along Killbuck Creek near Lindenwood, evacuate to higher ground.
[17] Downstream, in Lee County at Dixon, the river had not reached flood stage as off August 25, though it continued to rise.
[25] In Plano, Illinois the Fox rose up around the historic Farnsworth House, a modern architecture masterpiece designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
Water rose to within a foot of the Farnsworth House's raised platform, covering the terrace in front of the home, but the river crested before any damage occurred.
[32] Also in northwest Indiana, a section of Interstate 80/94 (Borman Expressway) was closed on August 24 due to flooding on the roadway.
[1] The Des Moines River near Fort Dodge crested at 4 feet (1.2 m) above flood stage, necessitating the evacuation of three subdivisions.
As the rains far exceeded the absorption rate of 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) in six hours, flash floods rapidly overflowed the water courses and spread across the valley floors.
[38][39] The towns of Stockton, Houston, Elba, Minnesota City, and portions of Winona, on the Mississippi River, were evacuated.
The Army Corps of Engineers opened up the floodgates on the rising Root River to release some of the water creating pressure on the dike in Houston.
[43] Amtrak train service between Minneapolis and La Crosse, Wisconsin was shut down for a week because of damage to the tracks.
[46] Dodge, Fillmore, Houston, Olmsted, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona counties were declared federal disaster areas.
A 92-year-old man drowned trying to get to safety after his car became trapped in floodwater near Findlay, where water poured into the downtown area from the Blanchard and its tributary creeks.
Bucyrus received 9 inches (229 mm) of rain, and several hundred people were evacuated from their homes in Crawford County.
Allen, Crawford, Hancock, Hardin, Putnam, Richland, Seneca, and Wyandot counties were declared federal disaster areas.
[52] Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Kenosha, La Crosse, Racine, Richland, Rock, Sauk, and Vernon counties were declared federal disaster areas.
