More dangerous storms loom for the central US as parts of the region also grapple with historic flooding
By CNN Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Dakota Smith and CNN’s Kate S. Petersen
(CNN) — A final round of widespread dangerous severe storms headed for the central US Friday could cause more destruction and bring more rain to parts of the Great Lakes already dealing with historic flooding.
The regions are getting a brief pause in widespread storms on Thursday after more than three dozen reports of tornadoes and over 300 reports of large hail up to the size of softballs. Lightning is also believed to have struck and killed a man in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night, according to the city’s police department.
And heavy rain from the storms has forced water rescues and caused rivers to surge past major and record flood levels in Michigan and Wisconsin, testing flood infrastructure and forcing evacuations.
Flooding worsens across the Great Lakes
Multiple rounds of rain this week have worsened ongoing river flooding in parts Michigan and Wisconsin, where the ground is water-logged from one of the wettest starts to spring on record and melted snowpack.
Rivers in the two states have already hit or are forecast to reach major or record flood levels in over 20 locations.
That includes the Muskegon River, which rose above record levels Thursday morning. The swollen river forced mandatory evacuations on Thursday morning for “anyone remaining in the floodplain below Croton Dam” in Newaygo County, the county’s emergency services said. Water rescues also took place near Evart, Michigan, as the river rose and started to impact homes, according to the Evart Fire Department.
This level of flooding is “unprecedented” in Michigan state Rep. Cam Cavitt’s district, which includes several counties in northern Michigan, he told CNN.
“We’re a hardy people,” he said. “This is a rural area, and we take care of our own. But this … this is more than we can handle.”
Dams across Cheboygan County are “at capacity” county Emergency Management Director Lt. Jeremy Runstrom told CNN on Wednesday.
This includes the Alverno Dam, which crews are working to fortify. The integrity of the Alverno Dam is particularly significant, because failure would send a torrent of water downstream to the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex, Cavitt said.
“If that dam would go, it would take the Cheboygan dam with it,” he said Wednesday.
Residents near and north of the Cheboygan complex were told to be ready to evacuate on Thursday morning as water levels continued to rise there, reaching 5.28 inches below the top of the dam by the afternoon. An evacuation order would be triggered if water reaches 1 inch below the top of the dam, a news release from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources states.
Crews and engineers have worked around the clock to fortify the structure, deploying pumps and sandbags, removing gates to allow water to flow more freely, and working to get a turbine running that would allow even more water to escape.
“We expect that we might see some topping (of the dam),” but with all the fortifications in place, “we don’t expect it will exceed that,” Michelle Crook, Senior Project Engineer at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said in a Tuesday briefing.
Officials lifted an earlier evacuation order in the county for residents in the Little Black River watershed Wednesday afternoon. The order was issued due to the breach of two earthen dams that flooded some homes and affected hundreds of people, Cavitt told CNN.
In Antrim County, Michigan, officials have also advised all residents and businesses downstream of the Bellaire Dam to prepare for possible evacuation. Water levels were stable on Thursday morning, but had risen to within 12 inches of the top of the dam on Tuesday afternoon. An evacuation order would be triggered at an inch below the top, according to a county news release.
A flash flood watch is in effect for the potential failure of the Hesperia Dam in west-central Michigan. Local officials have reported water is rising rapidly in the White River and may soon overtop the dam, according to the National Weather Service. The Hesperia Area Fire Department has advised residents living downstream of the dam to prepare for the possibility of evacuation.
Residents in low-lying areas of Waupaca County, Wisconsin, have been told to evacuate as floodwaters rise, according to the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 1,800 people in New London are impacted by the notice, county Emergency Management Director Zachary Van Asten said at a Thursday morning news conference, as well as residents of Weyauwega, Clintonville, Fremont and Manawa.
County dams are “stressed to the max,” but holding, Van Asten added. Earlier this week, water started to move around the Big Falls Dam and topped the Marion Dam, but levels at both have since dropped, he said.
Natural gas is being shut off for around 2,200 customers in flooded areas of New London and the village of Shiocton in Outagamie County due to concerns flooding could damage infrastructure and cause uncontrolled gas flows, We Energies spokesperson Matt Cullen said at the news conference.
Shiocton residents had been told to evacuate by Wednesday afternoon due to flooding.
“Many people have chosen to stay in their homes,” a Thursday update from the village said. “With that being said, the streets are now flooded and we ask residents to stay home, avoid driving on flooded streets.”
The storms also caused flash flooding in Milwaukee Wednesday night, stranding vehicles on flooded roadways. Some highways in the city were closed as drivers became stranded in high water, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office said. The city’s fire department said it responded to around 50 calls for rescue from rapidly rising water on Tuesday night.
More motorists were stuck in high water Thursday morning and tow truck drivers had joined in the rescue efforts, according to CNN affiliates CBS 58 and ABC 12. Residents should also expect delays and detours to bus service, the Milwaukee County Transit System announced.
Milwaukee on Thursday morning joined Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Gaylord, Michigan, as cities that have already clinched their wettest April on record with about half a month still to go.
New round of dangerous storms to flare up on Friday
A new surge of jet stream energy arriving in the central US on Friday will ignite one last round of widespread and dangerous severe storms after a lower and less widespread threat on Thursday in New York state, southern Vermont and northern Arkansas.
The most serious threat on Friday extends from Oklahoma to Wisconsin, where a Level 3 out of 5 risk of severe storms is in place for more than 10 million people. It includes Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Des Moines, Iowa, and La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Storms will erupt as soon as early afternoon in the northern part of the threat zone, then expand southward from there. The first storms could spin up tornadoes — possibly EF2 or stronger — and unleash destructive hail.
There’s a smaller corridor from eastern Iowa through central Wisconsin where a few tornadoes could become intense, meaning EF3 damage or greater is possible.
Widespread damaging winds capable of uprooting trees and knocking out power will then takeover as the main threat by late afternoon and evening as the storms race east, but tornadoes could still develop in these lines of storms.
This system could produce one final burst of severe storms with a threat of strong winds on Saturday in the Upper Ohio Valley. The storm-weary central US will then finally get a multi-day breather starting Sunday because a weather pattern change will usher in cooler temperatures.
A trail of destruction this week
A tornado moved through the Clinton, Missouri, area on Wednesday, and damaged a few homes, according to the town’s fire department. No one was injured or killed, Henry County Sheriff Aaron Brown said.
Large hail also pelted both the Kansas City and Cleveland areas on Wednesday. Hail up to the size of softballs was reported southwest of Kansas City.
This week’s strongest tornado was an EF3 packing winds up to 140 mph that struck near Union Center, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
The twister caused “significant damage” to many homes, downed power lines and left some roads impassable, but no injuries or deaths were reported, Juneau County Emergency Management said.
An EF2 tornado on Tuesday evening also tore a roof off a building and uprooted trees just outside of Milwaukee in the town of Lisbon, Wisconsin.
On Monday night, a pair of EF2 tornadoes struck eastern Kansas. One of those in Miami County, Kansas, damaged about 100 structures — roughly 50 to 60 of them “completely destroyed” or significantly damaged — with much of the impact centered around Hillsdale, according to county Undersheriff Matthew Kelly.
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CNN’s Hanna Park and Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.
