Midwest: Floods chase tornadoes

Rain-swollen rivers flooded regions throughout the Midwest on Monday as residents assessed damage from pounding weekend storms, including tornadoes that ravaged parts of Nebraska.

More tornadoes touched down late Monday in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. Four were reported in or near Chillicothe, Mo., and a hospital said it was treating a number of injured.

A lone tornado that touched down in the western Oklahoma town of Alfalfa destroyed a fire station and damaged several homes and a mechanic's shop, authorities said. No injuries were reported there.

State police in tornado-flattened Hallam, Neb., began allowing residents and repair workers back into town - only to order them out again Monday afternoon in anticipation of another storm.

Saturday storms in the area killed a 73-year-old Hallam woman, injured 37 others, destroyed 158 homes and damaged at least 57 others in Lancaster, Saline, Gage and Cass counties.

"It's just about a total loss," said Millie Schuster, whose possessions were reduced to an heirloom clock, the family Bible and a closet full of clothes.

Piles of corn and milo, a feed grain for livestock, covered the streets of Hallam, a village of 276 where earlier Monday the sounds of chain saws, electric generators and heavy equipment filled the air.

Dick Hainje, regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, flew over villages with Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns and Sen. Chuck Hagel. Johanns has requested a disaster declaration for 10 counties.

In the northern Illinois community of Gurnee, residents Monday battled the rising waters of the Des Plaines River in what threatened to become the town's worst flood in two decades. The water forced schools to close for more than 2,000 youngsters, and homes and businesses filled with water. The river in Gurnee is expected to crest early Wednesday at 12.7 feet - 5.7 feet over flood level.

Further south in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, authorities were distributing sandbags and alerting residents, said Dave Niemeyer, Des Plaines' city manager.

The river is expected to crest at 11.2 feet in Des Plaines early Thursday, a record-setting 6.2 feet over the flood stage, the National Weather Service said.

Flooding also was a problem in Iowa, where storms beginning Friday produced a string of 19 tornadoes, hail, high winds and heavy rains. As much as 9 inches fell over the weekend near Ames.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack asked for a federal disaster declaration covering 23 counties.

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