Midwest flooding begins to ease, but one more round of storms is on the way

By Dalia Faheid, Sarah Dewberry, Rebekah Riess, Kate S. Petersen, Briana Waxman, Mary Gilbert, Tyler Ory, Maria Aguilar Prieto, ,

(CNN) — Following disastrous flooding across the Midwest that left at least seven dead in Indiana, conditions have begun to improve across the region. As officials turn to recovery efforts, more storms are expected further east in Appalachia late Sunday.

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More than 5 million people across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic remain under flood watches Sunday. In areas already saturated by rain, even modest rainfall in the coming hours could cause new problems.

Here’s the latest:

• Casualties recorded: Seven people have died as storms continue across Indiana, including a 4-year-old boy who was killed after a tree fell on his home in Jennings County, CNN affiliate WISH reported. The latest known fatality is believed to be a 31-year-old cyclist found dead early Sunday in a sinkhole that opened up on a washed-out road in Henry County, The Associated Press reported. On Saturday, an 18-year-old’s body was recovered from the Mississinewa River, CNN affiliate WRTV reported. Matthew Morey, a recent high school graduate who planned to attend Purdue University, was swept away by flood currents after entering the river on Wednesday evening. On Friday, a 58-year-old woman was found dead near her car on a flooded road in Yorktown, Indiana, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office told CNN. Authorities believe she tried to drive through several feet of water when her vehicle was swept away.
• More storms to come: Soaking overnight storms brought flash flooding from Iowa to West Virginia. Most of those storms largely fizzled out by early Sunday afternoon, but the rain threat still isn’t over. A new round of storms has begun in Illinois and West Virginia and will spread east overnight Sunday into Monday.
• River flooding: In Noblesville, Indiana, the White River set a new record level as it reached major flood stage early Saturday morning with a crest above 24 feet.
• Bridge heavily damaged: Officials in Hamilton County, Indiana, expressed relief Sunday morning as weather conditions continue to improve and water recedes, but they cautioned recovery could take time. The bridge on Hazel Dell Parkway, near 106th Street in Carmel, was severely damaged and is undergoing assessments of its structure to determine whether it is repairable.

Renewed flood danger late Sunday

Another round of storms will likely move through Appalachia late Sunday through early Monday.

A line of severe thunderstorms is moving east across Ohio into Pennsylvania. There are reports of downed trees and power lines across Ohio, and a tornado warning was issued about 25 miles east of Canton.

West Virginia faces the greatest risk from another round of flooding rain, a Level 3 of 4, which will kick into another gear in the evening as storms head east.

Exactly where the heaviest rain lands remains uncertain, but forecast models suggest more than 4 inches could fall in the hardest-hit areas, with isolated totals topping 6 inches through Monday.

A broader Level 2 of 4 risk of flooding rain remains elsewhere in Appalachia, the mid-Atlantic and the Ohio Valley. These storms will weaken as they move into the mid-Atlantic but an intense downpour could still bring the risk of a flash flood.

The flood threat will ease Sunday overnight — especially by later Monday morning — as a cold front scoops up the remaining showers in the Mid-Atlantic and drives them into southern New England and out to sea. It will leave behind drier conditions and bring a reprieve to the nonstop flooding.

Evacuations and disaster emergencies

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said Saturday afternoon President Donald Trump told him he intended to approve the state’s request for a Presidential Emergency Declaration.

In a social media post Saturday, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the city was “experiencing its most severe flooding in 30+ years,” urging residents in some areas to evacuate.

The Indianapolis Fire Department and other Marion County agencies conducted 56 water rescues over an eight-hour period Saturday evening, rescuing 100 people and 48 pets, the city’s Emergency Management Director Jacob Spence told CNN on Sunday.

The city estimated around 400 people had been evacuated on Saturday in Ravenswood, one of Indianapolis’ worst-flooded neighborhoods, Deputy Fire Chief Jerry Martin said in a Saturday news conference.

Ravenswood resident Robert Sizemore evacuated from his home Friday after floodwaters from the nearby White River inundated the area.

Sizemore paddled a canoe back to his home through the flooded neighborhood alongside a few of his friends while looking to retrieve some of his belongings and rescue his cat.

When Sizemore returned to his home, not only did he find that the waters rose far more than he expected, but he also found that the floodwaters nearly reached the second floor.

In Broad Ripple, another Indianapolis neighborhood, Bret Irving passed a street at 7 a.m. ET Saturday and saw about an inch of water. Six hours later, the water rose to his belly button. He’s 6’3,” he added.

Irving said his sister and her husband evacuated their house because their basement started to flood.

“Water was just coming out of their walls and squeezing through holes … the basement was just getting bad, and the water was coming in now on both ends of the street and if they didn’t leave, they would’ve been waterlocked basically,” Irving said.

Yorktown, in Indiana’s Delaware County, declared a local disaster emergency Thursday, when first responders were working around the clock to assist with evacuations. Drone footage shared by the city showed houses, vehicles and roads submerged in muddy floodwater. Yorktown Fire Department Lt. Blair Webster told CNN that floodwater was chest-deep in parts of Yorktown, he said.

Photos and a video posted by the Yorktown Public Library show water in the book stacks and submerged children’s toys.

Timothy Hicks, a father of six, told The Associated Press it was “a panic to get out of here” when floodwater began pouring into their Cambridge City, Indiana, house on Wednesday.

“I just started grabbing them, running them out to the car without even getting shoes, clothes or anything like that,” he said. Video of the home shows ruined bedrooms, a damaged bike and a flooded yard. “It just crushes me. My kids’ house is gone,” Hicks added.

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CNN’s Avni Trivedi, Matthew Rehbein, Graham Hurley and Taylor Galgano contributed to this report.