The Latest: 80-year-old’s body recovered from flooded home

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):

1:40 p.m.

Authorities say an 80-year-old woman has died in her flooded Nebraska home after authorities couldn’t reach her.

The Platte County Sheriff’s Office announced the death of Betty Hamernik on Monday. The Omaha World-Herald reports that officials learned Thursday that she was trapped in her house by the flooding Loup River.

The sheriff’s report says rescuers from a Lincoln search team were unable to get to Hamernik because of the fast current, high waves and wind gusts of 60 mph. A team from the Nebraska National Guard attempted to rescue Hamernik by air on Friday morning.

After several attempts, crew members discovered that Hamernik had died. But they still were unable to get in the house. A dive team recovered her body Saturday.

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12:05 p.m.

Hundreds of homes have flooded in northwest Missouri after the Missouri River overtopped and breached several levees following heavy rain and snowmelt upstream.

Holt County Emergency Management Director Tom Bullock said Monday that many homes are inundated with 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 meters) of water. He says one couple was rescued in a helicopter.

Residents in parts of southwest Iowa were forced from their homes Sunday because of the flooded river, which has also displaced hundreds of people in Nebraska after a massive late-winter storm hit the Midwest last week.

The Missouri Department of Transportation reports about 100 flood-related road closures.

The National Weather Service says the river should crest Thursday in St. Joseph, Missouri, at its third-highest level on record. Military C-130 planes were evacuated last week from nearby Rosecrans Air National Guard base.

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Check out the AP’s complete story on flooding.