Nebraska residents are bracing for more record-breaking river levels as major flooding continues to affect portions of the Midwest.
The still-unfolding catastrophe caused at least three known deaths across the region.
The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Sunday that 17 locations across the state had been hit by record flooding, and more records could be broken over the next two days. Flooding in some areas may continue until next weekend, the agency added.
“Major to historic river flooding is expected to continue across parts of the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins,” the National Weather Service warned Monday, “due to rapid snow melt the past few days.”
Suggesting the still-unfolding catastrophe is a sign of a “hot new world,” climate activist and author Bill McKibben tweeted, “The Midwest flooding is off the charts—at places in Nebraska, the Missouri is four feet higher than it’s ever been before.”
Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation Program, captured images of the flooding in the Cornhusker State, and said its magnitude was “biblical”:
“This really is the most devastating flooding we’ve probably ever had in our state’s history, from the standpoint of how widespread it is,” Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday.
While Nebraska may be the most intensely affected at the moment, it is far from the only state hit by flooding. Iowa and Wisconsin also declared states of emergency as a result of of major flooding, and the graphics below show others in the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins that are facing rising waters:
The Weather Channel attributed the flooding to “a perfect storm of meteorological factors” including a “bomb cyclone” storm that brought snow and rain.
Meteorologist Jeff Masters broke down the details last week:
“Throughout Nebraska and the Midwest, our friends are dealing with the worst flooding in half a century,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in tweet over the weekend. “We must provide immediate help to those suffering. Long-term, we must take bold steps to stop climate change, which makes extreme flooding much worse.”