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In Humboldt, a care center was evacuated as water poured into the building's basement.
According to Lori Morrissey, Story County emergency management coordinator, the Skunk River had gone down to 14.99 feet at 9 a.m. today, compared to flood stage of 20 feet.
"The forecast is for (the river) to rise again, to 18.6 feet, by Thursday morning," she added.
That still wouldn't cause flooding, Morrissey said. In comparison, the 1993 flood raised the Skunk to 25.8 feet, which flooded both Interstate 35 and U.S. Highway 30.
Harry Hillaker, state climatologist at Iowa State University, said the culprit in this weather machine is a weak stationary front stretched across northern Iowa, and a pair of high pressure areas over the Deep South and Texas.
"It creates a low-level jet stream that brings an incredible amount of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico," he said. As soon as that moist air collides with the front, it turns to rain, especially at night, when cooler temperatures create conditions ideal for thunderstorms to form along the front.
The results: Humboldt, just north of Fort Dodge, has picked up 2 to 5 inches of rain each night since Saturday, Hillaker said.
Tony Jorgenson, Webster County's emergency management coordinator, said residents in three housing developments north of Fort Dodge were being told to leave.
Flood stage in that area is 10 feet and by midmorning the river was at 14 feet and rising, Jorgenson said.
That was putting pressure on the levee protecting the old hydroelectric dam and crews were struggling this morning to keep the levee from giving way, Jorgenson said.
"The levee on the dam is not completely collapsed, but it's damaged and they're currently shoring it up with rocks and trying to get some sandbags in there," he said.
The dam no longer produces electricity.
In Humboldt, more than 30 residents of Humboldt Care Center South were moved to the company's north unit, a church and a local hospital after water flooded the basement, threatening the electrical system, said Susie Hilton, the care center's assistant administrator.
No one was hurt, Hilton said.
The town's mayor, Steve Samuels, said basements in the city were flooded as water seeped through walls and windows.
"The ground is just saturated," Samuels said.
He said he has received 14 inches in his rain gauge since Friday, including 5 1/2 inches overnight Tuesday.
"We're crossing our fingers," he said. "There's water everywhere."
A flash flood watch remained in effect for much of the northern half of Iowa until Thursday.
Northern Iowa received another 6 inches of rain by late Tuesday night, said Gary Forster, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.
Winds up to 80 mph hit the town of Plover in northern Iowa on Tuesday night, destroying barns, bins and other property, Forster said. No injuries have been reported.
Forster said his agency was investigating whether it was a tornado.
More than half of Cherokee in northwest Iowa was without electricity for part of Tuesday night after wires from a water tower fell on power lines. In other parts of town, water was seeping into homes through windows, prompting city crews to offer pumps to the most affected areas.
Similar scenes have occurred across the region since Sunday, when heavy rains first began falling. Between 6 and 10 inches of rain have fallen in some areas.
Officials said Tuesday they found a man's body in a flooded basement near Postville in northeast Iowa, though they have not confirmed whether the weather prompted his death.
- Tribune staff writer Bob Zientara contributed to this story
For more information
Mid-Iowa residents can keep tabs on flash flood warnings and watches and river stages, by logging on to the National Weather Service Web site www.crh.noaa.gov/dmx/
