‘Extraordinary rainstorm’ floods Nebraska city, triggers water rescues
By Mary Gilbert, Brandon Miller, CNN
(CNN) — An entire June’s worth of rain fell in just a few hours over Grand Island, Nebraska, Wednesday night, triggering life-threatening flash flooding that inundated parts of the city, stranded motorists and forced water rescues.
“Many of our neighborhoods, roads and businesses are now dealing with the impact of flash flooding,” Mayor Roger Steele said during a Thursday afternoon news conference, adding it caused “significant disruption and damage.”
Steele declared a state of emergency for the city on Thursday to free up emergency funds and resources. “Although this was a storm of extraordinary magnitude, our teams were ready and already in motion before the first inch of rain hit the ground,” he added.
The city’s police and fire crews responded to more than 100 calls for service during the peak of the flooding Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Grand Island Police Chief Kevin Denney told reporters. About two dozen of those calls were to assist motorists stuck in floodwater.
Active rescue efforts had largely wrapped up by Thursday afternoon as the worst flooding started to recede, officials noted. There were no reports of injuries, but a few roads in the city remained closed as crews worked to clean up debris.
Torrential rain caused sewers to back up into several homes and sent floodwater running into basements, according to a Thursday news release from the city. Some affected residents took shelter at local hotels or with friends and family.
“This was an extraordinary rainstorm and is very similar to the historic rains seen in the 2005 floods,” Jon Rosenlund, the city’s emergency director said. “We will be actively monitoring rivers, creeks and other drainage areas over the next few days for future flooding issues.”
Flooding in 2005 turned streets into rivers in Grand Island. At one point, the city tore up a major road to open up a channel to drain flooding away from homes, CNN affiliate KHGI reported.
The central Nebraskan city is home to around 53,000 people and is about 130 miles southwest of Omaha. The rain came to an end around sunrise Thursday, but the danger remains, with a flood warning in effect until 7 p.m. CDT.
“We’re asking everyone to take it slow, avoid driving through standing water, and use alternate routes when possible,” Rosenlund urged.
Rainfall in Grand Island began Wednesday afternoon but the intensity picked up quickly after dark, falling at more than an inch per hour at times.
A total of 6.41 inches of rain fell by midnight, which made it the rainiest June day and the second rainiest day of any month in the city’s 130-year history of weather records.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency — the most severe form of flood warning — at 11:45 p.m. CDT Wednesday for Grand Island that continued for several hours into Thursday morning, continuously warning of “extensive flash flooding.”
Multiple rounds of heavy storms tracked over the area late Wednesday into early Thursday morning and ultimately dumped record amounts of rainfall. A level 2-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall was in place for Grand Island at the time, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
More than a month’s worth of rain – nearly 4.5 inches – fell in only three hours between 10 p.m. CDT Wednesday and 1 a.m. CDT Thursday. Rainfall of this intensity would only be expected around once in 100 years, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
Climate change is making heavy rainfall events heavier. As the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution, a warmer atmosphere is able to soak up more moisture like a sponge, only to wring it out in heavier bursts of rain.
Hourly rainfall rates have intensified in nearly 90% of large US cities since 1970, a recent study found.
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CNN’s Hanna Park contributed to this report.
