Historic Flooding Across the Midwest

At least three people are confirmed to have lost their lives so far amid record-setting floods affecting parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and other nearby states. Thousands of people have been asked to evacuate, and many have been away from their homes for days in hard-hit Nebraska, following last week’s “bomb cyclone” weather system that dropped huge amounts of precipitation—adding to existing troubles from heavy snow melt and ice-choked rivers. Dams and levees were overwhelmed, roads have been washed away, and some neighborhoods, farms, and military bases now sit in water up to 8 feet deep. As some of the rivers in eastern Nebraska are beginning to recede and others are expected to crest within 24 hours, worries are growing for areas downstream, along the Mississippi River Valley.