A state of emergency has been declared in the US central states due to rain, and a heat warning is in place elsewhere, MTI reported.
In the small town of Rock Valley, Iowa, hundreds of homeowners were asked to evacuate their homes due to high water levels in the Rock River. Some people were rescued by boats or helicopters. Based on aerial photographs, the settlement is completely covered by water. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds declared a state of emergency in 21 counties in the northern part of the state.
The governor of neighboring South Dakota, Kristi Noem, declared a state of emergency due to the record amount of rain, which in some places exceeded 450 millimeters in a few days. Nearly 180 mm fell on Sioux Falls, the state's largest city, in three days. A busy section of the state's main highway (Highway 29) was also flooded, which had to be closed for a period.
However, a heat warning remains in effect for the eastern part of the United States. For Sunday, the high is expected to reach 38 degrees in Washington, while the temperature is expected to reach around 35 degrees in major cities like Philadelphia and New York, and the same heat is expected in much of Ohio and Michigan.
On the other hand, extreme temperatures are over in the far Northeast, meaning the highest temperature in Caribou, Maine, near the Canadian border, was 34.4 degrees on Wednesday. Taking into account the air humidity, the feeling of heat is close to 40 degrees. It was warmer in the settlement than in Miami, Florida, and many cities in Texas.
Deadly forest fire
Authorities in New Mexico on Saturday issued a reward for information on the cause of forest and bush fires, after saying that the fires were not believed to have started naturally. The FBI has offered $10,000 to anyone who can provide information about the fires that destroyed two places in the southern part of the state and killed two people.
More than a thousand residential buildings were damaged or destroyed by the fire, and thousands of people were forced to flee.
According to reports on Sunday, one of the fires had consumed an area of 67 square kilometers as of Saturday, and has so far been contained by 27 percent, while the other forest and brush fire affected an area of 31 square kilometers, but so far only 7 percent has been contained.
In the state of New Mexico during recent days, the temperature has decreased somewhat, the weather has become more rainy, and the winds have moderated, which helps the work of thousands of firefighters working to contain the fires.
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