ROCK VALLEY, Iowa (AP) - Most people have been allowed back into their homes in a northwest Iowa community after they were evacuated because of flooding.
Rock Valley public information officer Travis Olson says 12 blocks of the city - between 50 and 70 homes - were evacuated Thursday as the swollen Rock River came out of its banks.
But Olson says by Friday afternoon, the waters had begun to recede, and most residents were allowed to return. The exception, he said, was one mobile home park still under water. Olson says some roads also were reopened Friday afternoon.
Churches were opened as emergency shelters to those evacuated, and about 400 volunteers and emergency workers worked through the night filling sandbags and creating berms.
The National Weather Service says the river rose rapidly Wednesday with the 5 to 7 inches (13 to 18 centimeters) of rain that fell along the Interstate 90 corridor in South Dakota.
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