Midwest battered by third day of storms, flooding, tornado damage

Repeated rounds of severe weather left the Midwest absorbing another hit, and the damage showed how quickly streets, power lines and low-lying roads can fail when storms stack up day after day. In Milwaukee, floodwaters trapped at least five vehicles near Timmerman Airport at 97th Street and Hampton Avenue, and the storms knocked out power to 24,500 customers as up to 3 inches of rain fell overnight.

The Milwaukee flooding added to a week of disruption across Wisconsin, where floodwaters from record rainfall inundated streets and forced officials to close sections of a highway. The scene underscored how vulnerable urban drainage systems can be when heavy rain comes in waves rather than as a single burst. Instead of giving roads time to drain, each round of rain kept pushing water back into neighborhoods, parking lots and travel corridors.

Farther north, the flood threat deepened in Michigan. In Cheboygan County, river levels rose to new record highs, and the National Weather Service in Gaylord kept a flood warning in effect for Cheboygan and Emmet counties until 8 p.m. EDT Sunday, April 19. The agency said recent rain and snowmelt were driving the flooding, with 2 to 6 inches of rain having already fallen in the two counties in recent days. Roads and structures near lakes and rivers faced the risk of washouts as water continued to rise.

The Midwest’s storm damage was not limited to flooding. Severe thunderstorms earlier in the week tore across parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, producing six tornadoes and hail as large as 4 inches, according to AccuWeather. Damage surveys were still underway, but no injuries were reported in the storm summaries cited. The outbreak hit Independence, Iowa, Union Center, Wisconsin, and Dane, Wisconsin, among the areas where tornadoes and hail were reported.

Forecasters warned that repeated downpours would keep flood risk elevated across the region, with additional rounds of storms expected through the end of the week. For communities already dealing with stranded vehicles, darkened homes and rising rivers, the bigger problem was not just the intensity of one storm, but the compounding strain of several in a row.