Central Iowa Hit by Floods

One person was missing after raging floodwaters swept three cars off a road near Des Moines early Wednesday, and hundreds of people were forced from their homes in several communities as rivers rose.

Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State's basketball arena had 4 to 5 feet of water in it, while the football stadium was ringed by sandbags stacked by players who hoped to protect it.

Emergency crews found 10 of the 11 people in the cars washed off the road between Altoona and Mitchellville about 4 a.m. by the storm-swollen Mud Creek, said A.J. Munn, the emergency management director for Polk County. They had been clinging to trees and hanging onto logs, and four were taken to the hospital.

Thunderstorms have hit Iowa for three consecutive nights, sending rivers and creeks rolling over their banks. The National Weather Service said 2 to 4 inches of rain fell on central and eastern Iowa over night, with up to 6 inches in some spots.

Several hundred people were evacuated from their homes in Ames early Wednesday and sandbagging was under way, after 3 to 5 inches of rain pushed Squaw Creek and Skunk River over their banks in the city 30 miles north of Des Moines, Fire Chief Clint Petersen said. In some spots, water was up to car windshields.

"This is a particularly dangerous situation," he said.

The floor at Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State's basketball arena, was covered with water, school spokesman John McCarroll said. It was too soon to know how much damage had been done, he said.

Jack Trice football stadium was still dry, surrounded by sandbags football players had stacked as a precaution.

But the parking lot between the two stadiums, where tailgaters party before games, was flooded.

The Iowa Department of Transportation closed Interstate 35 just south of Ames, and both lanes of U.S. Highway 30 in the area were closed.

Link for video of floods:  http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=778863199910&ref=mf