Q-C sweats out storm; now comes the heat

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By Kurt Allemeier and Thomas Geyer | Saturday, June 23, 2007 |

Get ready to sweat, Quad-Cities.

When the thunderstorms move out of the area today, the mercury is expected to surge into the 90s Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, said Terry Swails, chief meteorologist at KWQC-TV6.

“It will feel like summer around here,” he said.

That wet weather pattern will continue through today with occasional showers. Cloud cover would keep the high temperatures in the upper 70s, he said.

Thunderstorms that rolled through the region Thursday night into Friday hit some areas hard, but left other areas with very little for crops to use as the heat of the summer approaches. Only .64 of an inch of rain fell at the Quad-City International Airport near Moline. Iowa City got 4.62 inches. Wapello got 4 to 5 inches, while there were of 5-7 inches north of Macomb, Ill. Davenport got .41 of an inch, while there were reports of 5 to 7 inches that fell in and around the Muscatine area.

Flood watches and warnings were issued by the National Weather Service for most of east-central Iowa and west-central Illinois.

Flooding forced the Iowa Department of Transportation to close U.S. 6 in West Liberty on Friday. Traffic was being diverted onto 115th Street. The highway in that area was expected to be closed at least 24 hours.

The Scott County Jail in Davenport lost power for about three hours Friday afternoon while several other downtown customers of MidAmerican Energy Co. also were without electricity.

Power went out about noon Friday for 70 downtown Davenport customers and 45 Bettendorf customers. The jail had it restored by about 2:30 p.m., and all of the downtown customers had regained power by 2:50 p.m., said Mark Reinders, a MidAmerican spokesman. Power was restored in Bettendorf about 2 p.m.

A problem with an underground wire caused the power outage in Davenport, he said. Storm damage involving trees and limbs caused the outage in Bettendorf.

When the jail’s power went out, generators kicked in, so security was never lost, assistant Administrator Jerry Brundies said. Non-essential power for lighting and office computers was lost. Computers for booking and the jail’s central control system were powered by the generators.

Kurt Allemeier can be contacted at (563) 383-2360 or kallemeier@qctimes.com. Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

FEMA SAYS ‘NO’ TO IOWA

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has denied Iowa Gov. Chet Culver’s request for a major disaster declaration for Louisa and Muscatine counties where tornadoes struck June 1.

FEMA also denied a request for hazard mitigation statewide.

“Based on our review of all of the information available, it has been determined that the damage was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments,” the FEMA letter said. “Accordingly, we have determined that supplemental federal assistance is not necessary. Therefore, we must inform Governor Culver that his request for a major disaster declaration is denied.”

The denial may be appealed within 30 days.