The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Piedmont

Residents of low-lying towns stacked sandbags or grabbed belongings and evacuated Wednesday after a foot of rain pushed rivers and creeks out of their banks in the nation's midsection. At least 13 deaths had been linked to the weather, and three people were missing.

Record or near-record flood crests were forecast at several towns in Missouri. Flooding was reported in large areas of Arkansas and parts of southern Illinois, southern Indiana and southwestern Ohio, and schools were closed in parts of western Kentucky because of flooded roads.

"We've got water rising everywhere," said Jeff Korb, president of the Vanderbugh County, Ind., commissioners.

The National Weather Service posted flood and flash flood warnings from Texas to Pennsylvania.