An Iowa man died from drowning earlier this week after his basement filled with water amid historic flooding in the Midwest.
Police found the body of Kyle Kreykes, 52, in his Rock Valley home on June 24, The Des Moines Register, The Gazette and CNN reported.
Rock Valley Police Chief Monte Warburton told the outlets that Kreykes, who lived by himself, was first reported missing by family on June 21, but rescuers were not able to get into his house for days due to the high flood levels following weeks of rain across the Midwest.
Warburton added that rescuers were eventually able to pump out water from Kreykes’ basement, and police discovered the house’s foundation had collapsed, pinning him under debris, leading to his drowning.
“The water had such power it just blew through foundations in homes,” Warburton told the Register.
According to the Associated Press, severe weather warning sirens went off at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 22, to warn Rock Valley residents to evacuate ahead of the severe flooding, and The Gazette reported that water from the nearby Rock River added more to the floods after a levee broke that same day.
Warburton confirmed to the Register that there were no other reported injuries in the town as of Thursday, June 27.
The nearby Clay County Sheriff’s Office reported that an Illinois man died after attempting to drive his truck through floodwater but was swept away by the Little Sioux River, according to CNN.
A third man near Sioux Falls, S.D., also died in a car crash related to the floods, the South Dakota Highway Patrol previously confirmed.
Rock Valley mayor Kevin Van Otterloo told the AP that a state helicopter had been called to assist residents stranded in their homes, but was later called off.
“We’ve had so much rain here,” he told the outlet. “We had 4 inches last night in an hour and a half time. Our ground just cannot take anymore.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds released a disaster emergency proclamation on June 22 to more than 20 counties in northwest Iowa following the flooding last weekend. The White House also issued a major disaster declaration in the state, and President Joe Biden ordered that federal aid be given to Clay, Emmet, Lyon and Plymouth counties, as well as Sioux County, where Rock Valley is located.
Warburton told to the Register Thursday that the floodwaters had finally receded. At one point, the Rock River rose to a record depth of more than 27 feet early Saturday morning, shattering the previous record, the outlet reported.
The chief also advised residents to carefully inspect power sources and the foundations of their houses as they return home, according to the Gazette.
“If they feel like they’re being unsafe, they need to back out of their houses,” he said. “We’ve got things that are shifting, things that are malfunctioning. I want to make sure that nobody else gets hurt.”
