Midwest: High Water, Low Spirits

It has not yet rained for 40 days and 40 nights, but Noah would feel at home in an area stretching from the Great Lakes down through the Midwest. By last week Michigan had suffered 22 straight days of downpours. Some 2,700 people were evacuated from floods around Chicago, and St. Louis was partly submerged. A damaged dam in Wisconsin was threatening to burst. A tornado ripped through Oklahoma City.

Illinois and Oklahoma called out the National Guard to deal with the disaster, and the Mississippi River reached flood-warning levels. Forecasters offered no rays of hope: a hurricane sweeping up from Mexico threatened the region with more gloomy weather.