Storms have recently dumped up to one foot of rain in parts of the Midwest, leaving roads and homes underwater and more than one dozen people dead.

Flooding has been reported in parts of Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, southwestern Ohio and Kentucky. President Bush declared a major disaster in Missouri, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in flooded areas. Officials in Butler County, Ohio, declared a state of emergency due to rising waters.

"It is going to take some time to dry out with this type of rain put down on saturated ground," said Beverly Poole, a meterologist with the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Ky. "It's going to take a few days for the rivers and the creeks to recover."

At least 13 deaths have been linked to the storms. Flooding in Missouri is blamed for five deaths, and a highway wreck which occurred during heavy rain in Kentucky led to five more fatalities. An Ohio woman appeared to have drowned while checking on a sump pump in her home, and floodwaters swept a pickup truck off a rural road in southern Illinois, leaving two people dead.

Source: Chicago Tribune