CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- Flooding forced hundreds of people from their homes Monday in northeast Ohio following weekend storms that also knocked out power to thousands of people elsewhere in the Midwest,
Barbara Ruscitti woke up early Monday and saw her dresser floating in her basement bedroom of her Canton home.
``When I put my feet over the side of my bed, my feet were in water,'' she said. ``I was just stunned. I started yelling and screaming and crying.''
The basement flooded to its ceiling within minutes, she said. She and her family and other residents of the duplex had to wade a block through neck-deep water to a fire station.
The Canton Fire Department estimated 1,000 people had been forced from their homes in the city and surrounding areas. Ruscitti was one of hundreds of people who spent Monday in three Red Cross shelters in the area.
The fire department used boats to pluck about 200 people from their homes.
The Akron/Canton area reported 3.78 inches of rain in just three hours Sunday and wind gusted to 70 mph at Sandwich, Ill., about 65 miles west of Chicago, the National Weather Service said. Three to 5 inches of rain south of Chicago also caused scattered flooding, the weather service said.
On Monday, storms stretched through the region from northern Missouri across central Illinois into southern Indian and Ohio and northern Kentucky.
About 22,000 Illinois customers of Commonwealth Edison lost power during Sunday's storms, mostly west and south of Chicago, company spokeswoman Meg Amato said. In Ohio, about 40,000 customers of FirstEnergy lost power Sunday evening, spokeswoman Ellen Raines said.
Flooding damage to homes and business in Canton alone was estimated at $1 million, said Ed Cox, coordinator for the Stark County Emergency Management Agency.
In Louisville, Ohio, about 70 miles southeast of Cleveland, Bertha Smith said Monday that water soaked the floor of her basement during the night.
``In all the time I've lived here I've never ever seen any water come in,'' Smith said, who has lived in the home 55 years. ``It's just terrible. It's the worst summer ever.''
A nursing home was evacuated at Liberty, Ohio. Rushing water pushed several houses off their foundations in Ohio's Trumbull County, said county corrections officer Sheila Cullins.
Elsewhere, about 85,000 customers remained without power in Memphis, Tenn., nearly a week after a severe storm caused millions of dollars in damage and four deaths. The storm last Tuesday initially blacked out more than 300,000 customers of Memphis Light, Gas & Water, the utility said.
