Floods kill at least four in Minnesota

A mudslide in Wisconsin pushed a house onto
a highway.

WINONA, Minn. (AP) — Severe storms deluged parts of the upper Midwest during the night with as much as a foot of rain, causing flooding that washed away bridges and roads and killed at least four people, authorities said Sunday.

Part of Winona and smaller towns in southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin were evacuated, officials reported.

Rushing floods in Minnesota killed two people in their vehicle near Stockton and two others in vehicles near Witoka, said Bob Reinert, the Winona County administrator and spokesman for the county’s emergency operations center.

“They apparently just drove off the edge of the pavement, and with the floodwaters just were unable to get out of the vehicle,” he said, adding floodwaters opened up a 30-foot gully where the road used to be.

Houston County authorities were investigating reports of two additional fatalities, one near Houston and one near La Crescent, and Winona County authorities were looking for three people reported missing.

National Guard Capt. Paul Rickert of the National Guard said 88 soldiers and two helicopters were sent to Winona to help with security around the small cities of Elba, Stockton, and Pickwick. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty visited the area Sunday and declared a state of emergency in six counties.

Mudslide

Across the Mississippi in Wisconsin, up to 12 inches of rain triggered a mudslide that pushed a house onto state Highway 35 in Vernon County, said Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Getter. No injuries were reported.

“They’ve been pulling people out of stalled cars, and evacuating them out of their homes,” Getter said, adding that the Wisconsin National Guard was placed on standby.