A blizzard that descended on Colorado and Wyoming last week is now moving east to wreak havoc on the Midwestern United States.
Western Nebraska saw a major snowstorm leading to white-out conditions while other parts of the state saw major rainfall, causing some towns to be evacuated due to the risk of flooding.
Emergency service workers helped to rescue a vehicle that was swept off of a road in Norfolk, Nebraska and that incident, coupled with rising water levels along the Elkhorn River, initiated the evacuation of nearly 24,000 people in the area. The driver of the vehicle has not yet been located.
Other towns in Nebraska, as well as one town in Iowa, have also been evacuated.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem began preparing a state of emergency declaration after she closed all state offices Thursday. Shortly after closing state offices, Governor Noem ordered the state’s Emergency Operations Center to open, as the Red Cross opened shelters in the cities of Sioux Falls and Yankton.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds also signed a state of emergency order on Thursday and opened the state emergency operations center, as record setting levels of rain fell on Sioux City, Iowa.
Colorado was the first victim of this late-winter storm and saw major power outages, travel delays, and grounded planes across the state last week.
Tornadoes in New Mexico and Kentucky have also been linked to this spurt of bad weather.
This story was first reported by By Blake Nicholson and Nelson Lampe of the Associated Press.