Upper Midwest flooding forces hospital evacuation

AP/Yahoo News, June 13, 2008

Rising water from the Cedar River forced the evacuation of a hospital in downtown Cedar Rapids, IA, after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. The hospital's 176 patients, including about 30 patients in a nursing home facility at the hospital, were being evacuated to other hospitals in the region. The evacuation started late Thursday night and continued Friday morning. Cedar Rapids was among the hardest hit communities in the state, and Iowa Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state's 99 counties as disaster areas while nine rivers were at or above historic flood levels.