Residents of Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, and Nebraska reported at least 80 tornadoes since Monday, with at least 22 tornado reports by late Wednesday, including a "violent tornado" in Jefferson City, Missouri, that may have caused fatalities. At least seven people have been reported dead from storm-related causes, mostly in Missouri, ABC News reports. And days of heavy rains have caused near-record flooding in the Midwest, especially Oklahoma, where 9 inches of rain have fallen on saturated ground since Sunday.
The Arkansas River is 9 feet above flood stage in parts of Oklahoma, and two barges that broke away in the flood prompted evacuation orders for several small towns on the other side of a dam downstream. The Missouri and Mississippi Rivers are at or approaching flood stages from Iowa and Illinois down to Missouri — the Mississippi is expected to crest 12 feet vote flood stage in St. Louis on Monday. And the rain-swollen Cimarron River is eating away its banks toward homes about 34 miles north of Oklahoma City.
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