Midwest Floods Abate; Storms Persist

FINDLAY, Ohio, Aug. 23 -- Water from the worst flood in nearly a century in this northwest Ohio city began receding Thursday, as it did elsewhere in the Midwest, allowing some of the evacuees of more than 1,000 homes to get a look at the soaked photo albums, boxes of clothes and furniture in their basements.

With the flooding, and with more storms moving through, the death toll across the upper Midwest and from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin that swept Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri over the past week rose to at least 26. In one Ohio county alone, there were more than 700 damaged homes.

The weather wasn't through, however, as funnel clouds were spotted in the suburbs west of Chicago and storms lashed Iowa and Minnesota. Storms rattled and soaked northern and west-central Illinois, knocking down trees and damaging buildings, and adding to the rising water in several rivers.

Even in spots where the storms had passed, the intense sun prompted a heat advisory, with temperatures expected to hit the upper 90s throughout Ohio. Cincinnati schools closed because of the heat for the first time in at least 10 years.