CANADA USA CHINA FLOODED

Manitoba flooded, Indiana hail storms and destruction in China, Columbia also hit with landslides and storms.

Rising river forces evacuation of reserve with 1,100 people in northern Sask.

JULIA NECHEFF Fri Apr 14, 7:30 PM ET (CP) - Residents in parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan were coping with major flooding at the start of the Easter long weekend as heavy spring runoff swelled several rivers. Wide swaths of farmland along the Red River in southern Manitoba were under water on Good Friday. In northeastern Saskatchewan, the Red Earth First Nation hustled to get out of the way of the threatening Carrot River as leaders ordered a general evacuation of the band of 1,100. Band and provincial officials, and volunteers from another reserve in the area, evacuated the most vulnerable residents first. Between 250 to 300 people - the elderly, mothers and babies, and pregnant women - were loaded onto buses and sent to stay in Prince Albert.

Chief Miller Nawakayas said remaining residents were to be moved out first thing Saturday morning and would be going to Saskatoon. About 100 homes along the Carrot are in danger of being flooded when the river crests, likely on Saturday, the chief said. The Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, they're predicting (flooding) as early as Saturday during the day and it
could continue on until Wednesday next week," Nawakayas said. The chief said an ice jam was complicating the problem. When he went to check the river Friday morning, the water level was only about a third of a metre from the top of the bank. In Manitoba, dikes were protecting towns along the Red River but many farms were already under water and accessible only
by boat. The Red crested at Emerson on the U.S. border on Friday morning, carrying runoff from North Dakota. Wind fanned rippling waves on what should have been fields. Federal and provincial politicians took a helicopter tour to get a bird's-eye view of the flooded valley.

In some places the river was up to 15 kilometres wide and covered more than 40,000 hectares of farmland. Part of federal Justice Minister Vic Toews' riding is submerged. The Conservative cabinet minister joined Manitoba Premier Gary Doer, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz and local civic officials for the tour. They said the flood of 2006, while bad, is not as devastating as Manitoba's flood of the century nine years ago. Certainly the extent of the flooding is not like it was in 1997 when both the premier and I flew over this area," Toews said."I'm very confident that the provincial municipal officials working together with the federal officials have got it in hand. I'm quite pleased to see the progress that has been made," he said. Katz said the Red is expected to crest in Winnipeg on April 20, but he thinks the city will be OK if Mother Nature co-operates.

He said his heart went out to his fellow Manitobans. A lot of us are not experiencing what they're going through but I'll tell you what after having the opportunity to see what's going on in southern Manitoba, coming from Winnipeg you have to feel relatively lucky right now and thank God for the floodway," the mayor said. While the politicians were sounding upbeat, Manitoba chief flood forecaster was issuing an ominous warning of storm clouds on the horizon. A major weather system is developing that could bring heavy precipitation to southern Manitoba on Monday and Tuesday, Alf Warkentin said. It does appear at this time that it could produce a significant amount of rainfall and it certainly has the potential to alter the flood situation quite significantly," he said. Areas that have crested could crest again, possibly at higher levels, so this is something we'll have to watching very, very closely." Warkentin said he's also keeping an eye on Saskatchewan.

The Carrot River, which is causing so much havoc on the Red Earth reserve, threatens The Pas in northwestern Manitoba and rural homes along the river, he said. Peak flows on the Red Deer River will eventually move into Manitoba as well.

Storms in China kill 21, destroy thousands of homes Fri Apr 14, 11:10 PM ET BEIJING

(AP) - Torrential rains in central and eastern China have killed 21 people and destroyed thousands of houses, the government said Saturday. Storms in the central province Hubei killed 11 people and forced 37,000 to flee their homes, China's Xinhua News Agency said, citing local civil affairs authorities. It said 11,000 houses were destroyed. In Jiangxi province in the east, rains killed 10 people and caused the equivalent of more than $100 million Cdn in damage, the
government said. Local authorities in both areas were distributing tents and bedding, Xinhua said. It said the central government has dispatched teams with more aid to the regions.

Tornadoes rip through eastern Iowa, killing 1 and damaging university

Fri Apr 14, 8:32 PM ET IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Tornadoes tore across the University of Iowa campus, ripped walls off a downtown church and killed a woman in a trailer outside of town. The U.S.National Weather Service said five tornados touched down in Johnson County on Thursday night, the most destructive carving a five-kilometre path of damage through downtown and the university. High winds, hail and at least one tornado hit Illinois as well. There was debris flying everywhere inside the house," said Melissa Fortman, an Iowa sophomore who huddled with friends in the basement of the Alpha Chi Omega house as sirens sounded.

She then decided to run upstairs for her homework just as the tornado hit. I couldn't go downstairs because there was debris and glass flying up the stairs, so I just hid in a telephone booth we have in our house and I just hid there crying," she said. Entire walls of the sorority house were gone and the interior of several rooms were visible from the street. Two cars had been tossed into a nearby ravine and glass, debris and tree limbs littered the neighbourhood. The twisters swept across eastern Iowa, with the worst damage from Iowa City southeast through Nichols, about 30 kilometres away, the National Weather Service said. We have a path in the Nichols area that's four to five miles long," said Maj. Dave White of the Muscatine County sheriff's office. He said the tornado hit farms and a trailer with a man and woman inside.

It blew it off the foundation and the trailer rolled and basically disintegrated," White said. The woman, whose identity was not released, died in the storm. Gov. Tom Vilsack declared a state of emergency for Johnson, Jones and Muscatine counties.In Iowa City, 30 people were reported treated at hospitals for storm-related injuries. Downtown, one-half the roof of St. Patrick's
Roman Catholic church was torn off. Store windows were shattered, some buildings were partially collapsed and homes and apartments were heavily damaged. Thousands of homes in Iowa and Illinois were without power but utility officials said it was expected to be restored by midday Saturday.

Illinois was hit by high winds and hail and the weather service confirmed one tornado touched down in Lincoln early Friday morning. We had lot of hail with this whole system, from Galesburg southeast to Champaign and Vermilion counties," said Chris Geelhart, a weather service meteorologist based in Lincoln.Some of it did get up to the size of baseballs."