Midwest flooding swamps rivers, roads across six states over Easter weekend

A multi-day severe weather outbreak stretching from the Plains to the Great Lakes left rivers surging and roads submerged the Easter weekend. Flood warnings remained active across six states: Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and New York, as of Sunday, April 5, with some warnings not set to expire until later this week, the National Weather Service reported.

Damage from the April 4 storm event was concentrated in southeast Michigan, where a cold front triggered two lines of severe thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening. The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in Van Buren Township in Wayne County at 5:46 p.m., charting a path of about 3.25 miles. No injuries were reported, NWS meteorologist Megan Varcie said. A separate storm in Monroe County produced straight-line wind gusts exceeding 60 mph, downing trees and utility poles across Whiteford Township and Lambertville, with at least one home sustaining roof damage from a fallen tree, the National Weather Service's Detroit office reported

Between 1 and 3 inches of rain fell across southeast Michigan during the storm, with localized totals up to 4 inches, saturating the ground and leaving roads flooded and rivers rising, the National Weather Service said. A Flood Watch covered Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, the Thumb, and central Michigan through midnight.

The April 4 flooding compounded damage from an earlier storm sequence. Four tornadoes struck southwest Michigan on March 6 in what the National Weather Service called the state's deadliest weather event in nearly 50 years. The most severe was an EF-3 in Branch County's Union City that killed three people and injured 12; a separate EF-1 in Cass County killed a 12-year-old boy, the National Weather Service said.

Preliminary damage assessments across Branch, Cass, and St. Joseph counties found 33 homes destroyed, 74 with major damage, and more than 200 with minor damage, according to the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has requested a federal major disaster declaration for the three counties, estimating $1.4 million in federal assistance needed for temporary housing, repairs, and recovery, the Detroit News reported.

Northern Indiana and northwest Ohio saw broad river flooding, with more than a dozen waterways surging above flood stage following 3 to 6 inches of rainfall between March 31 and April 4.

The Saint Joseph River near Newville was forecast to crest at 15.2 feet, well above its 10-foot flood stage, inundating DeKalb County roads and causing widespread agricultural flooding toward the Cedarville Reservoir, the National Weather Service said. The Maumee near Defiance saw floodwater reach street level on Auglaize and East Front Streets, while homes along Steinberger Lake Drive on the North Branch Elkhart River had water at their foundations, according to NWS flood warnings. The Tippecanoe, Kankakee, Yellow, and Tiffin Rivers were all under active warnings as of Sunday, with some extending through Thursday, the National Weather Service reported.

In Wisconsin, the Baraboo River at Reedsburg was forecast to crest at 16.6 feet, matching a 2016 record, with flooding covering neighborhoods near West Main Street and submerging South Park entirely, Men's Journal reported. Downstream near Baraboo city, the river was forecast to rise further to 18.1 feet by Tuesday. The Fox River near New Munster had reached first-floor levels of homes along Riverside Drive, with that warning extending through Thursday, according to NWS forecasts.

Damage assessments from the April 4 Michigan storms were still underway as of Sunday, with NWS Detroit conducting field surveys. Federal disaster declarations, both pending and potential, will determine the pace of recovery across the region in the weeks ahead.