Roads are washed out in several counties across northern, central and northeastern Iowa as heavy rains are bringing flooding. A Flash Flood Warning is in effect for Dickinson, Emmet and Kossuth counties, while a Flood Warning covers Boone, Black Hawk, Butler, Clayton, Hamilton and Webster counties. Much of the rest of the state is under a Flash Flood Watch.
Kenny Podrazik, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service says everyone needs to take note of their nearby rivers and streams — as they could pose a danger. Podrazik says the biggest threat right now is to northern Iowa as there’s a line of storms in northwest Iowa that’s moving east and those clouds could dump one-to-two inches of rain per hour. He says some areas of the state got well over six inches of rainfall during the weekend, with the heaviest rain falling in two spots — around Fort Dodge and Waterloo.
Podrazik says Fort Dodge had nearly five-and-a-half inches of rain just in the past 24 hours, while Mason City had almost five inches and Jewell had nearly four inches. He says much of the state had anywhere from two-to-five inches of rain. He says Iowa motorists need to pay close attention to the roads they’re driving on.
Podrazik says don’t try to drive across a flooded roadway, just turn around, or you could pay for the mistake with your life. He notes — at least a dozen people were killed in flooding over the weekend nationwide, six each in Minnesota and Oklahoma. People in both states had to be rescued from rooftops.