Severe Storms Punish Illinois, Iowa, Montana

A small Montana town protected by 50-year-old dikes was surrounded by rising water today, while flooding caused millions of dollars of damage in Illinois and severe storms and tornadoes destroyed buildings in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Lightning ignited a house fire today that killed a 16-year-old girl in Michigan.

In Montana, the town of Saco was surrounded by water from a swollen tributary of the rampaging Milk River. Mayor Gregg Menge called for additional volunteers to help reinforce the town’s aging levees and sandbag dikes.

Beaver Creek was rising at a rate of four to six inches an hour today on the east side of Saco, said Chuck McComb, a state Disaster Emergency Services official at the scene. Highways into town remained open.

Northeastern Illinois also was hard hit by flooding today, especially along the Des Plaines River, and officials distributed sandbags to residents.

$10-Million Damage

The state Emergency Services and Disaster Agency estimated damage in Lake County, on the north side of Chicago, at more than $10 million. About 10 inches of rain has fallen there in the last week, and Gov. James R. Thompson declared the county a state disaster area.

A tornado ripped through Wisconsin’s Jefferson County on Sunday, destroying several houses and farm buildings and injuring a woman when a fireplace was thrown onto her, authorities said.

The storms in Wisconsin cut off power for about 7,500 customers, utility officials said. Wind gusts of up to 58 m.p.h. were clocked in southeastern Wisconsin.

The Michigan storm also knocked out power to 32,000 utility customers in the Detroit area. More than 20,000 Detroit Edison Co. customers were still blacked out today.

Tornadoes touched down across Iowa on Sunday night, accompanied by heavy rains, golf ball-size hail and strong winds.