More heavy rain pounded the state overnight, this time flooding homes and roads in southern Iowa. Centerville, Mystic, Creston, and Ottumwa are among the hardest hit towns, receiving around 9 inches of rain.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Rod Donovan says the area could get another 1-2 inches later today. He says a system moving over southeast Colorado this morning could arrive in southern Iowa late this afternoon into the evening.
There’s a chance the storm could miss Iowa and drop into Missouri. Donovan says there is relief in sight. "We’ll see a couple more disturbances pass through the state during the weekend where we could see some light rain," Donovan says, "but nothing like we’ve seen the past several days. Then, we’ll see another chance of heavy rain by mid next week."
The record for statewide total rainfall in the month of August was set during the floods of 1993, at 8.24 inches. This year’s total is getting close to that record.
"Rathbun came in with 12.3 inches overnight," Donovan says, "that’s by far our highest rainfall with a one night event. Otherwise, we have seen areas across north-central Iowa with totals of 8-12 inches or even 12-14 inches in the last couple days."
As of 10:30 this morning, the following Iowa highways were closed because of flooding:
- Highway 92 in Mahaska County , just west of Highway 163
- Highway 1 in Van Buren County in Keosauqua
- Highway 65 in Lucas County
– Highway 7 in Buena Vista County
The Iowa DOT provides road closure information on-line at www.511ia.org , or by phone at 511.