Death toll mounts as floods, heat wave batter US

CHICAGO (AFP) - Unrelenting storms and floods have forced thousands of people from their homes, while other US states have wilted in a record-breaking heatwave with the death toll from the extreme weather hitting the country rising to almost 50 Thursday.

Mudslides and murky floodwaters hampered rescue efforts in the central and southern states of Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin after a week of heavy rains that has left 23 dead.

In Wisconsin three people, including a toddler, were the latest victims, after they were electrocuted and died on Wednesday when lightening struck a utility pole and knocked a live wire into a deep puddle at a bus stop.

Forty people were injured in Chicago Thursday when a roof collapsed in the midst of a violent thunderstorm that uprooted trees and knocked out power lines, police said.

Meanwhile, soaring temperatures in the southeastern states of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama have been blamed for the deaths at least 25 people in recent weeks.

The latest trouble began a week ago when tropical storm Erin gathered strength instead of weakening as it passed over Oklahoma and Texas, which is experiencing its wettest year in more than a century.

Erin then joined up with another storm system which had brought mudslides, floods and seven deaths to Minnesota.
Together, the storms strengthened and dumped even more rain on the saturated grounds and overflowing rivers of the midwest.

"This is unprecedented," said Patrick Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather Service, which is predicting more rain is on the way.
Recovery workers in Oklahoma were searching for the body of a high school student sucked into floodwaters while running with his cross country team.

Six other people were confirmed dead in the state after the remnants of Erin triggered flooding over the weekend that continues to wreak havoc.

It was the third major flood the state has faced this summer and the deadliest so far because of the intensity of the storm, said Michaelann Otten, a spokeswoman for the department of Emergency Management.