Floodwaters begin receding in Ohio By DAN STRUMPF, Associated Press Writer

Floodwaters begin receding in Ohio By DAN STRUMPF, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 42 minutes ago



CHICAGO - Strong thunderstorms pounded northern Illinois, damaging buildings, bringing planes and trains to a halt and leaving hundreds of thousands without power early Friday, while floodwaters that swamped other parts of the Midwest began receding.

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A storm packing winds over 70 mph swept through the Chicago area Thursday evening. A roof collapsed at the dock area of an industrial building in the suburbs, injuring 40 people but none seriously, police said.

About 310,000 customers in northern Illinois were without power Thursday night, including 62,000 in Chicago, ComEd spokesman Tom Stevens said. It could take days to restore power for some customers north of the city, he said.

Kimber Hall, 20, was riding her bike along Lake Michigan when winds rolled in and the skies opened up.

"Out of nowhere the sky just went black," said Hall, a student at Columbia College in Chicago. "Sheets of rain. Lightning hit a tree about 25 feet away from me. A branch hit me in the face."

Hall said she found shelter in a nearby underpass, where others had huddled to escape the storm.

Other storms lashed Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana on Thursday, while at least one tornado was reported about 50 miles northeast of Grand Rapids, Mich. About 115,000 homes and businesses in Michigan were blacked out early Friday, utilities reported.

The death toll from storms and flooding across the Upper Midwest and from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin that swept Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri over the past week rose to at least 26.

Hard-hit Ohio finally got a break from flooding on Thursday, though the tally of damaged homes was put at 700 in one county alone.

Adding to the misery, temperatures hit the upper 90s across the state. Schools in Cincinnati closed because of the heat for the first time in at least 10 years.

In Findlay, which saw its worst flooding in nearly a century, some of the more than 1,000 people who had been displaced returned home Thursday to pump water from their basements and start tallying their losses.

"Most of it's ruined," Joe Lamb said as he sorted through a bin of soaked NASCAR memorabilia, hosing off the mini Dale Earnhardt collector cars and tossing the rest. "Our Christmas stuff, everything."

A day earlier, firefighters and volunteers in boats and canoes navigated waist-deep water to rescue people and pets. Some residents were still stuck in a shelter where 200 people slept Wednesday night.

In Chicago, Steve Moore walked Wrigleyville's sidewalks Thursday after a day of dodging rain and lightning.

"It was so dark and so grey, I could hardly see out the window," said Moore, 28, a network consultant. "The first time I tried to go out there, the wind was so strong ... the door blew back in my face."

For some businesses, the storm was a boon as people raced to get out of the rain.

"It was out of control," bartender Nick McCann said. "People would not leave. ... We had $2 margaritas, and people were getting hammered."

About 500 flights at O'Hare International Airport were canceled Thursday evening and others delayed for more than 2 1/2 hours, Chicago Aviation Commissioner Nuria Fernandez said. Delays at Midway Airport averaged 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Strong winds knocked down a hangar under construction at the Gary/Chicago International Airport. The hangar is now "a pile of metal," Gary Jet Center president Will Davis said.

In northern Illinois, the Fox River flooded some homes in Fox Lake while other residents stacked sandbags to protect their houses, said Ami McEwan, assistant administrator for Lake County.

"Most of them are sandbagging and keeping it at bay," she said.

A foot of water stood over roads in the Rochelle area, about 20 miles west of De Kalb, and the Des Plaines River was more than 3 feet above flood stage north of Waukegan, according to the National Weather Service.

In southwestern Wisconsin, the National Guard pumped water to relieve pressure on at least one dam, said Mike Goetzman, a spokesman for Wisconsin Emergency Management. The earthen dam suffered erosion earlier this week when water from weekend thunderstorms overflowed it.

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Associated Press writers Don Babwin, Megan Reichgott and Sophia Tareen in Chicago and John Seewer in Findlay, Ohio, contributed to this report.