As part of Midwest starts flood cleanup, downstream region braces for inundation
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/as-part-of-midwest-starts-flood-cleanup-downstream-region-braces-for-inundation/2019/03/20/e068ab36-4b26-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html?utm_term=.cfe7df819e45&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
FREMONT, Neb. Chris Sewall stood with a push broom in front of an emergency shelter he manages for at-risk children, sending water sloshing down the front steps Wednesday afternoon. It had been nearly a week since he had to evacuate 10 teenagers from this facility, and the floodwaters had finally receded.
The basement still had about four inches of water, but Sewall was optimistic.
We look around, he said, gesturing to neighboring houses where soggy furniture had been hauled into muddy front yards. Were feeling pretty lucky.
Piles of damaged appliances, water-stained upholstery and black garbage bags stretched toward the roofs of single-story houses that had been flooded when rain and melting snow produced record-high river levels. One homeowner had placed a detached door under a sump pumps downspout, a makeshift ramp to redirect the flow into the driveway.
Communities across the Midwest are facing massive cleanup efforts after last weeks late-winter bomb cyclone caused at least four deaths, forced the evacuation of entire communities and drenched vast tracts of land with icy and often polluted water. Nebraskas emergency agency set the estimated cost of the destruction at $1.3 billion on Wednesday, including $400 million for dead livestock, $440 million in lost grain and $439 million in damaged infrastructure.