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Flooding and Tornadoes Cause Problems for Texas and Midwest Residents

Amid severe flooding and natural hazards, residents from Texas to the Midwest evacuated their homes using boats

A powerful storm swept across Texas and the Midwest on Wednesday causing residents to evacuate their homes in boats. 

The storm pushed heavy rain, snow, and ice into both regions, resulting in hundreds of car crashes, several fatalities and killing four people at an interstate in Nebraska. 

Elkhart, Indiana declared a state of emergency and around 19 people evacuated their homes in emergency boats and an armored vehicle. Schools were shut down around the city to set up an emergency shelter, according to The Elkhart Truth newspaper. 

"This city has not seen flooding like this in the last 45 years," the Mayor of Elkhart, Tim Neese said. "We also had record snowfall in addition to consistent rain."

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for several other states in the central and southern U.S., from Texas to Ohio, and winter weather advisories in Chicago, Oklahoma, and Kansas. 

A School bus in Arkansas veered off of the road into floodwaters as vigorous winds brought down power lines and damaged buildings, while another bus in Lafayette, Indiana was pushed off a road by another vehicle. Fortunately, no students were injured in either accident. 

The storm stretched all the way to Texas where weather service officials reported three tornadoes hit. One Twister struck early Tuesday morning in a rural area near Joshua and destroyed two mobile homes, severely damaging several others. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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