Midwest Mops Up As Floodwaters Ease

Torrential rains eased and the cleanup began Tuesday in the Midwest, where hundreds of people were forced out of their homes by weekend storms that killed six people, including two children.

The storm system, which had dropped up to 9 inches of rain on Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri since Sunday, broke up and moved on, leaving behind swamped homes, power outages and plenty of damage.

Two deaths in Ohio were blamed on the weather: a 6-year-old boy who grabbed a live electrical wire in his flooded back yard, and a 15-monthold who wandered into a creek. In Missouri, three people died in weather-related traffic accidents, and a fisherman was killed when his boat capsized.

The storm caused widespread flash flooding in the St. Louis area, where about 500 homes were damaged.

In Illinois, Gov. Jim Edgar declared Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties disaster areas, making them eligible for state aid.

Some 3,800 Madison County residents still didn’t have electricity Tuesday and could be without service until Wednesday. And in Ohio, about 2,500 customers were still without power.