They have it pretty bad in the SE corner of Minnesota.

http://www.winonadailynew...od_map.pdf

JediTodd said:

I was just gonna say...

FLOOD: Wisconsin, Minnesota governors declare disaster areas

Quiet trout streams turned to raging rivers over the weekend, sweeping away homes, triggering mudslides and killing as many as six people in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

A 37-year-old man was missing Sunday night in Winona County and hundreds throughout the region were evacuated from their homes after as much as a foot of rain fell through the day Saturday. Houston County authorities reported two dead.

A husband and wife died when their vehicle was swept away near Stockton, said Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand. Another couple died near Witoka after the road gave way and their vehicle plunged into the water, Brand and witnesses said.

The names of the victims were not released Sunday afternoon.

Witnesses described people screaming for help from a rooftop as water swept their house hundreds of yards onto a set of railroad tracks. Others listened from their roofs as their homes collapsed under them.

Some told of narrow escapes from vehicles as waters surged around them and roads turned to gullies. Eight people in Brownsville, Minn., survived as their houses tumbled down the bluff in an avalanche of mud.

Emergency responders knocked on doors throughout the region Sunday, double-checking areas hit hardest by the flash floods. They used boats and scuba gear to rescue those stranded, authorities said.

The cities of Houston and Rushford were flooded and inaccessible. Houston County residents were evacuated to Caledonia. Stockton, Elba, St. Charles, Hokah and Minnesota City also were hit.

Roads, bridges and railroad tracks were washed out, and a train derailed in Vernon County, Wis., as a result of the floods. Many areas were without power and telephone service.

The Red Cross housed hundreds of evacuees at emergency shelters set up throughout the region.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty surveyed the damage and declared six counties, including Winona, Houston and Fillmore, as disaster areas. In Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle did the same for Vernon, and Crawford counties and will visit the area today.

Pawlenty ordered National Guard troops to the area to help with rescue efforts. Two helicopters were called in but could not get to Stockton because of low cloud cover Sunday morning. One helicopter later helped with a rescue on the Whitewater River.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were headed to the area, Pawlenty said, to determine if damaged areas will qualify for federal assistance.

With more rain forecast Sunday night, authorities feared additional floods and urged those remaining in affected areas to evacuate.

“With the saturation of the ground, it’s not going to take a lot … for the water to start running again,” said Winona Police Department Chief Frank Pomeroy.

Many said the rising water caught them by surprise.

At a Red Cross shelter at Saint Mary’s University, Steve Runkle had a cell phone, the jeans he was wearing and a borrowed Pink Floyd T-shirt.

His Minnesota City house was gone.

“This is it,” he said. “This is everything I got in the world.”

But he was grateful to be alive.

just wanted to let all orgers being hit by hard rain....


you can stand under my umbrella-ella-ella...hey,hey...


just a thought...

For the last two days, it has been raining heavily here. When this happens, I get a river flowing through my backyard. I'm looking out my window, and it looks like a creek out there. I'm not complaining because we need the rain, we've had a pretty dry summer. But when it does rain, it seems to come down in buckets.

psychodelicide said:

gosh, I hope the stick bug did not drown
[Edited 8/20/07 12:19pm]

babooshleeky said:

Do stick bugs float like real sticks?

hopefully it doesn't turn in2 a mudslide

L4OATheOriginal said:

Again, are you sure this isn't another anal sex thread?

....and yet it has not rained here since March and we have had a wildfire that as of now burned almost 200,000 acres since July 4th!! Would it be so hard for that rain to find it's way to California, pronto!