(Newser)
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Storms that caused flooding across the country's midsection have killed 16 people, and bad weather remains a threat, the AP reports. A snowstorm battering Minnesota and Illinois grounded hundreds of flights, and forecasters predicted a 9-inch total. Thousands were forced into shelters as rivers continued to swell; in many states, floodwaters might not crest until the weekend.
Smaller channels were the chief source of floods. Texas authorities recovered the body of a boy who’d been washed down a drainage pipe; a woman watched as one river carried away “large pieces of furniture, dressers, picnic tables" in Arkansas, where two were still missing. Maine, meanwhile, faced a foot of snow and a continued blizzard warning.
