Tornado Hits Boy Scout Camp in Iowa, Killing 4

CHICAGO, June 11 -- A tornado that hit a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa on Wednesday evening left four dead and about 40 others injured, according to Iowa Homeland Security officials.

The National Weather Service reported the tornado touched down at 7:35 p.m., hitting the Little Sioux Scout Camp near the Nebraska state line, where 93 scouts, between 13 and 18 years old, were staying. Most were on a hike when the tornado struck.

Iowa Homeland Security spokeswoman Julie Tack told the Associated Press that a search-and-rescue team had been sent to the debris-covered camp.

The Weather Service also said that tornadoes were reported elsewhere in Iowa, eastern Kansas, Nebraska and Minnesota.

Meanwhile, much of the Midwest was still underwater Wednesday, continuing a week of dramatic flooding that is drawing comparisons to the region's historic 1993 inundation.

The Army Corps of Engineers said it plans to start closing locks early Thursday along a 216-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, because the rising water will prevent the lock gates from functioning and electrical equipment must be moved to higher ground. That means the Mississippi, which is already above flood stage, will be nonnavigable to commercial traffic from central Illinois to just above Saint Louis for two weeks or longer, until water levels recede.

In Wisconsin, the southern half of the state from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River is soaked in floodwaters. But one of the state's main tourist attractions, Lake Delton in the Wisconsin Dells, stands dry because the man-made lake burst through its earthen banks and literally drained away Monday morning, sweeping up cars, homes and trees on its way to the Wisconsin River.

The Dells, a resort area in south-central Wisconsin that bills itself as the Water Park Capital of the World, is key to the state's economy, bringing in 3 million visitors and $1 billion a year, most of it during the summer.

The water ski stunt ramps for the Tommy Bartlett Ski, Sky and Stage Show are now standing high and dry in the cracked lake bed, which is lined with dead fish. But the show is to reopen Thursday with an expanded sky and stage component.

"The show will go on," said Melanie Platt-Gibson, marketing director of the Dells visitors bureau.

Residents downstream of Phantom Lake southwest of Milwaukee fear they could also be caught in the path of a draining lake because a dam on the east side of the lake may have been weakened. Residents of small towns on the Mukwonago and Fox rivers are prepared to evacuate if they hear the emergency siren indicating a dam failure.

"We are watching it every single minute," said Gov. Jim Doyle (D), who visited the dam Wednesday. He said that although the Phantom Lake dam appears to be holding, there could be more problems on the way.