Midwest faces fourth consecutive day of flooding after ‘catastrophic’ Indiana deluge

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By Meteorologists Dakota Smith, Briana Waxman, Chris Dolce, and Kate S. Petersen

(CNN) — Relentless storms that unleashed catastrophic flooding in eastern Indiana are set to reload across the Midwest on Thursday, raising the risk of another round of dangerous flooding from Iowa and northern Illinois into the already inundated Ohio Valley.

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Parts of Indiana saw a 1-in-1000 year flood Wednesday, sending water rushing into homes, forcing evacuations and leaving roads impassable. The deluge came one day after a deadly derecho – a rare, unusually long-lasting windstorm – tore through the Midwest, and the region may not get a meaningful break from the storms until Friday.

Here’s the latest:

• Flash flood emergencies: Parts of seven counties in eastern Indiana were under the highest level of flood warning Wednesday. In Muncie, the city’s fire department was going door-to-door to help people evacuate from homes in the affected areas, according to a Facebook post from the city.
• Rivers still rising: At least four rivers in eastern Indiana are forecast to reach major flood stage into Thursday, meaning flooding could worsen or persist even after the heaviest rain ends.
• Widespread outages persist: Nearly 275,000 homes and businesses are without power in Indiana as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. Just over half a million customers remain in the dark across the Ohio Valley.
• More flooding to come: Much of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio are facing a risk of flooding rainfall again on Thursday, with some rain even lingering into Friday. Saturated ground and swollen rivers will make it easier for even modest rainfall to cause new problems.

‘Catastrophic’ flooding grips Indiana

Cambridge City, about an hour east of Indianapolis, reported “catastrophic” flooding late Wednesday morning, warning residents in a social media post to be prepared to potentially lose utilities for “a number of days” due to the storms. The town is currently under a boil-water advisory.

Video obtained by CNN shows floodwater covering large sections of the town, with water levels well past many houses’ windows and cars almost entirely submerged. Officials have urged residents in certain parts of Cambridge City to evacuate, Wayne County Emergency management Agency spokesperson Todd Harmeson told CNN. First responders are also using boats to conduct rescues, as most of the roads in town are impassable, he said.

Floodwater was waist deep in parts of nearby New Castle, Kendra Blankenship, assistant to the city’s mayor, told CNN, noting city buses were being used to transport people evacuating the floods to a temporary shelter.

New Castle received more than 11 inches of rain in 32 hours – a rainfall rate that equates to a 1-in-1000-year flood. This only has a 0.1% chance of happening in given year, under normal circumstances. But extreme rainfall is becoming more common as the atmosphere warms.

Homes were also flooded farther north in Muncie, where officials were working to evacuate an area with about 200 homes, city spokesperson Amber Greene told CNN Wednesday morning. About a dozen people had to be rescued by boat, and responders were returning to pick up more, Greene added.

Roadways were flooded throughout Muncie, Greene said, and what was supposed to be the first day of school for the city school system has been postponed due to flooding.

By Wednesday night, some water rescues were still ongoing, but the flooding had stabilized in the city, Muncie Fire Chief Daniel Burford told CNN.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said multiple roads were washed out and “a lot of water rescues” were conducted in flood-ravaged areas Wednesday.

Deadly storms hit Midwest on Tuesday

Wednesday’s storms come a day after a deadly line of severe weather swept through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

A 4-year-old boy died in southeastern Indiana on Tuesday after a tree fell on a house in Geneva Township, according to Cody Low, chief deputy for the Jennings County sheriff’s department.

One person was found dead Tuesday in Portage, Indiana, from an apparent explosion and house fire after the derecho moved through the area. The cause remains under investigation, but police suspect trees knocked down by the storm may have damaged natural gas lines.

A utility that serves northern Indiana experienced its largest outage event in company history on Tuesday, according to a social media post.

Punishing week continues with day 4 of dangerous flood threat

The area that saw heavy rain on Wednesday and is at risk of flooding rainfall on Thursday is largely the same as previous days and extends from the central Plains to the Midwest and Ohio Valley.

A complex of storms is underway in Nebraska early Thursday morning and is expected to move into Iowa around daybreak before tracking toward parts of the Upper Midwest throughout the morning.

Additional storms could develop Thursday evening and repeatedly move over the same areas as a surge of moisture feeds into a stalled front.

A Level 2 of 4 risk of flooding rain stretches from Iowa and northern Illinois through Indiana and Ohio into the central Appalachians. The highest odds of significant rainfall are centered on much of Iowa and northern Illinois, where some forecast models show pockets of 3 to 6 inches or more where multiple rounds repeatedly track over the same locations.

Showers and storms could linger into Friday across parts of the Midwest, Ohio Valley and Appalachians, but the greatest threat of additional flooding will begin shifting north toward the Upper Mississippi Valley.

Such extreme rainfall is becoming more common in a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture that storms can tap into and wring out in more intense spurts.

The severe threat is much lower for the remainder of the week. Isolated damaging wind gusts are possible as the morning storm complex crosses Iowa Thursday, with additional storms developing from the central Plains into the Upper Midwest Thursday evening and overnight. Those storms could produce isolated damaging winds and large hail, but a repeat of Tuesday’s destructive derecho is not expected.

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CNN’s Avni Trivedi and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.