Midwest neighborhoods submerged as severe storms bring record rainfall

Indiana neighborhoods were submerged for a second straight day as parts of the state recorded their highest daily rainfall totals ever. Meteorologists warned Thursday that Indianapolis faced the greatest threats from storms expected to bring heavy rain to the Midwest through the rest of the week.

Upwards of 36 million people were under flood alerts Thursday across the region, according to the National Weather Service. Its forecast offices in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Tennessee warned that rainfall across each state could be persistent and widespread, potentially drenching parts of each state with another 4 inches or more. The expected rainfall could bring strong winds, large hail, and additional flash flooding to communities already devastated by extreme weather in recent days.

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The rain never stopped, it just kept coming and coming.

Since Monday, 277 flash flooding incidents have occurred across the Ohio Valley, according to CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan, as deadly storms and tornadoes slammed the region. Since Tuesday, leaders in the region have declared seven flash flood emergencies. A quarter of a million people in Indiana and Illinois woke Thursday to power outages caused by the storms.

In Cambridge City, Indiana, many people required boat rescues after catastrophic floods on Wednesday left them stranded. Water filled city streets, rising several feet in the hardest-hit areas and seeping into the ground floors of local homes. Some residents faced harsher conditions, with the deluge completely covering the roofs of their cars or crashing into their homes through doors and windows. One man desperately clung to a light pole in Cambridge City as muddy, brown water swirled around him before he was eventually rescued. Another resident, Christian Corder of nearby New Castle, Indiana, evacuated his home after it flooded and told "CBS Mornings" that dealing with the aftermath has been "very overwhelming." "A lot of stuff is ruined," Corder said, recalling how "the rain never stopped, it just kept coming and coming." New Castle received more than 11 inches of rain in just over a day, a rainfall rate that is extremely rare, with only a 1 in 1,000, or 0.1%, chance of it happening.

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Very overwhelming.