Heavy Rains Swamp Midwest

Heavy rainfall in a half-dozen Midwest states forced motorists to abandon their vehicles, cut power to thousands of households, and closed busy roadways. The National Weather Service issued flood watches and warnings for parts of Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin. After rainfall began on Saturday in some areas forecasters predicted "repeated rounds of heavy rain," along with hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes into Monday. With the fairgrounds outside Milwaukee flooded on Sunday, the Wisconsin State Fair canceled its final day, the AP reports.

As much as 12 inches of rain had fallen in the Milwaukee area, according to the National Weather Service, which also noted river flooding in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties. Some motorists left their stranded cars on roads. Nearly 47,000 customers of We Energies lost power in southeast Wisconsin. In the suburban village of Wauwatosa, an overflowing and fast-moving Menomonee River submerged a popular playground. "Really unfortunately, it's just a really bad overlap of circumstances in terms of how all this rain fell but then fell over such a populated area," said Andrew Quigley, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Firefighters responded to over 600 calls including for gas leaks, flooded basements, electrical outages, and water rescues, according to the Milwaukee Fire Department. City crews worked overnight to clear surface water. "We're still in the middle of it," Fire Chief Aaron Lipski told reporters Sunday. USA Triathlon canceled its Sprint and Paratriathlon National Championships in Milwaukee, where thousands of athletes were expected to participate. The Sunday afternoon Mets-Brewers game in Milwaukee was not postponed, though the stadium parking lot remained inaccessible to traffic.