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Millions of Americans are facing flight delays as storms led to historic flooding in the Midwest Sunday (August 10) night, the New York Post reports.
A total 879 total delays and 56 cancellations within, into, or out of the United States were reported as of 8:00 a.m. ET Monday (August 11), according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. The National Weather Service issued flood watches and warnings for several states within the region including Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin.
The Midwest was hit by "repeated rounds of heavy rain" on Saturday (August 9), as well as hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes that could possibly continue into Monday, according to the agency. At least 24 storms were reported to hit the Upper Midwest on Saturday, with wind gust measuring between 80- to 90-MPH in Omaha, Nebraska.
A video shared by CBS News showed "as much as 12 inches of rain in some areas of Wisconsin" on Sunday.
Milwaukee was later reported to have been hit with up to 14 inches of rain as of Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. The Milwaukee Fire Department also confirmed that it received more than 600 reports of gas leaks, flooded basements, power outages and water rescues.
“We’re still in the middle of it,” Fire Chief Aaron Lipski told reporters Sunday via the New York Post. “We’re still catching up right now."
More than 5,700 residents in Wisconsin and more than 3,600 residents in Michigan were reported to be without power as of Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.