Parts of the Upper Midwest remained under flood warnings on Sunday after days of heavy rain caused major flooding, leaving at least one person dead in South Dakota and forcing evacuations and water rescues across the region.
Flood warnings were in place for rivers in parts of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. A flood warning means that flooding is imminent or already occurring.
In South Dakota, torrential rain fell across the central and eastern parts of the state for three days. One person died as a result of the severe weather, Gov. Kristi Noem said at a news conference on Sunday. She did not provide any details about the person or the circumstances of the death. Several rivers in the state broke water-level records, and the Big Sioux River was projected to set a record of 42.2 feet on Monday afternoon, Ms. Noem said.
Officials were calling for voluntary evacuations in Dakota Dunes, a community of about 4,000 people near the bank of the river, and were planning to close a stretch of Interstate 29 on Sunday evening so that they could build a levee across the highway, she added. “This is probably the first time we’ve seen this kind of rainfall come this quickly,” Governor Noem said.
In Iowa, rivers have crested several feet above levels reported during a 1993 flood that left 50 dead across the Midwest, according to that state’s governor, Kim Reynolds. By Sunday, she had declared a disaster for more than 20 counties, and at a news conference she described the projected damage as “staggering.”
On Saturday alone, emergency responders had conducted 250 water rescues, more than 1,000 people had been sheltered, and more than 1,900 properties had been damaged, with hundreds destroyed, Ms. Reynolds said on Sunday.