Storm woes range from sinkhole to snow to twisters

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Middle America was overwhelmed by weather Thursday, with snow in the north, tornadoes in the Plains, and torrential rains that caused floods and transportation woes — and a sinkhole in Chicago.

Seemingly every community in the Plains and Midwest was under some sort of watch or warning. Up to a foot of snow was expected in parts of Minnesota and the Dakotas. Snow and ice closed highways in Colorado. Rivers were surging beyond their banks from downpours in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. Tornadoes caused scattered damage in Oklahoma. Frost warnings were in effect in Kansas and Oklahoma as a cold front pushed out warmer air.

"It's a classic spring storm in many ways," Mark Fuchs of the National Weather Service said. "There's a wide variety of weather, a big temperature difference."

Consider St. Louis. On Wednesday the temperature reached 85 degrees. Strong storms passed through on Thursday, and by Friday, the temperature is forecast to be around 40 degrees.

There were no immediate reports of deaths related to the vast array of foul weather around the country.

Chicago was pummeled by an all-night rainstorm that ripped open a sinkhole large enough to swallow three cars and injuring one driver badly enough that he had to be hospitalized. Police spokesman Mike Sullivan said the gaping hole opened up in a street on the city's South Side, near Lake Michigan.

The injured man was driving when the road buckled and caved in. He was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. The other two cars were parked.

Flooding has also forced authorities to close sections of several major expressways around Chicago, canceled classes at some schools and scrapped around 550 flights at O'Hare International Airport. The gauge at O'Hare showed 5 inches of rain, and 2 more inches were expected Thursday.

Winds, possibly from a tornado, damaged dozens of homes in Spavinaw, Okla., injuring one person. Another twister damaged a few buildings near Paris, Mo. High winds also blew two tractor-trailers off a highway near Monroe City, Mo.

Up to a foot of new snow was expected in northern Minnesota. Duluth has already received 24 inches of snow this month, and the additional snowfall could push it past the April record of 31.6 inches set in 1950. Winter storm warnings were also posted for parts of North Dakota and South Dakota.

Snow and ice forced closure of sections of Interstate 70 and Interstate 25 in Colorado. The Wyoming Department of Transportation warned drivers to watch for black ice.

Flash flooding was reported in many places. In north-central Illinois, fire departments and rescue crews helped stranded motorists and residents. In Utica, the fire department evacuated a mobile home park. In Marshall County, boats were needed to rescue morning commuters trapped in flash flooding.

In Ava, Mo., a school bus carrying several children stopped because of water on the road. The driver turned around to go back, only to find flooding behind him, too. The driver and kids waited at a nearby home until help arrived. Outside the small town, an elderly couple was rescued from their mobile home after a fast-rising creek encircled the trailer.

"There were places around here this morning that like in 45 minutes got 3 inches of rain," Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase said.

Roads in Oklahoma, Iowa and Michigan were shut down because of flash flooding.

Several rivers were lapping over their banks, including the biggest one, the Mississippi. In Hannibal, Mo., the flood gates were installed in open sections of the levee that protects the Mark Twain sites and the rest of downtown. Emergency management director John Hark said he was in "full flood fight" mode.

The river was expected to climb nearly 10 feet above flood stage by the middle of next week several spots north of St. Louis, including tiny Clarksville, Mo.

Many of the town's 442 residents were filling sandbags Thursday as floodwaters began rising toward the unprotected downtown. City Clerk Jennifer Calvin said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was bringing in 500,000 additional sandbags, the effort speeding up because the crest of the flood is expected over the weekend.

"This is a short time frame we have to prepare for it," Calvin said. "That doesn't make it any easier."

Strong storms rolled through the St. Louis area during the morning rush Thursday, snarling traffic with water over several roadways. Winds up to 60 mph caused scattered damage.

In Chicago, the storm-swollen Chicago River was being allowed to flow into Lake Michigan, in part to relieve sewer backups downtown and in neighborhoods. The river was diverted away from the lake more than a century ago to keep pollution out of the lake, the source of the city's drinking water. Meanwhile, workers were furiously filling sandbags and putting up barricades along the north branch of the Chicago River in the Albany Park neighborhood.

Making flood concerns even worse: Forecasters are calling for the heavy rain to continue in many places into Friday morning.

Scientists: Superstorm Sandy jolted United States

China angered by Japan's increased jet scrambles

BEIJING (AP) — China accused Japan of raising regional tensions with its increased use of fighter jets to monitor Chinese aircraft that approach a cluster of islands claimed by both countries.

The remarks from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Thursday came one day after Japan's Defense Ministry said it dispatched fighter jets in response to Chinese planes 306 times during the 12 months through March 2013, up from 156 the previous year.

Chinese aircraft have steadily increased patrols in the East China Sea, where the Japanese-controlled islands are located. There has been only one report of a Chinese plane violating Japanese airspace over the uninhabited islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

"We all know Japan has continuously provoked and escalated tensions over the Diaoyus," Hua told reporters at a regularly scheduled news conference.

Hua said that China is firm in its resolve to defend its claim to the islands, but that it wants to solve the issue peacefully through dialogue and negotiation, a reference to Beijing's insistence that Tokyo at least formally concede that ownership of the islands is in dispute.

"What Japan needs to do is, not send more planes, but show sincerity and action and talk with China," Hua said.

Simmering tensions over the islands flared violently in September amid Chinese fury at the Japanese government's purchasing of three of them from their private owners. Japanese businesses were attacked in several Chinese cities and Chinese patrol boats were dispatched to confront Japanese ships in waters near the islands.

The outburst was more vehement and sustained than previous rounds of anti-Japanese sentiment that were grounded in Chinese resentment over Japan's brutal occupation of much of the country during the 1930s and 1940s.

However, the risk of conflict appears to have receded in recent weeks amid back-channel diplomacy and efforts to prevent a clash at sea.

Sinkhole swallows 3 cars in Chicago

By Claudine Zap | The Sideshow – 20 hrs ago

This is not how most people expect to start the day.

A sinkhole unexpectedly opened up on a residential street in Chicago’s southeast side Thursday morning, swallowing three cars.

Officials blamed the sinkhole on a broken water main, according to the Chicago Tribune. Heavy rains and flooding have also been drenching the area.

[See a slideshow of the flooding in Chicago.]

One man on his way to work could not avoid driving his car into the crevasse. He was taken to a local hospital for minor injuries, according to report from Reuters.

Witnesses told the Tribune that the hole appeared to open up around 5 a.m., quickly spreading from 20 to 40 feet wide.

Neighborhood resident Ola Oni told the paper she was getting ready for work around 5 a.m. but had not yet gotten into her car when it fell into the gaping hole.

"It could have happened to me, I am lucky, I'm happy," Oni told the Tribune. She added,"In this kind of neighborhood, I don't think this should happen."

Sinkholes have plagued other areas like Florida, which has seen the underground dangers swallow businesses and homes, even taken a life.

Jeff Bush, a resident of Seffner, Fla., near Tampa, was killed last month when a hole opened up under his bedroom and swallowed him.

PHOTO: Chicago Sinkhole Swallows Cars

Officials survey a gaping sinkhole that opened up a residential street on Chicago's South Side after a cast iron water main dating back to 1915 broke during a massive rain storm, Thursday, April 18, 2013, in Chicago. The hole spanned the entire width of the road and chewed up grassy areas abutting the sidewalk.(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

As severe weather whipped across the Midwest Wednesday and Thursday, Chicago was slammed with heavy rain that wreaked havoc on the city.

A total of 5.48 inches of rain has fallen at O'Hare International Airport over 24 hours as of noon Thursday, crushing the average April total of 3.38 inches.

The 24-hour total surpassed Chicago's August average, typically the city's rainiest month, by 0.58 inches.

"The heaviest bursts of rain and thunderstorms occurred from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday evening and again from 1:00 a.m. to around 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning," AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Meghan Evans said.

The heavy rainfall halted travel for thousands as more than 600 total incoming and outgoing flights were canceled Thursday. Wednesday posed a similar situation with more than 200 flights delayed out of Chicago.

As water pooled on major roadways, both the Eden and Kennedy expressways were closed Thursday morning. The Dan Ryan Expressway was also flooded.

As inundation increased the travel woes across the city, the suburbs of Lombard and Gurnee called off school for the day Thursday.

Within the city, a giant sinkhole swallowed three cars.

Boston Marathon bomber manhunt: One suspect dead, second on the run

Click image to see more photos. (Matt Roarke/AP)

[Updated at 10:20 a.m. ET]

BOSTON—A late-night police chase and shootout has left one marathon bombing suspect dead and another on the run, police here said, as residents of the still-grieving city were ordered by officials to "shelter in place" while the manhunt continues. One police officer was killed and another was seriously wounded during the violent spree.

Authorities identified the surviving Boston bomb suspect as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass., and said that the suspects were brothers. The second bombing suspect is Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, according to NBC News, who was found with an IED on his body. The brothers' family is believed to be originally from Chechnya, a volatile southern Russian republic. Photographer Johannes Hirn took this photo essay of the older brother, a boxer. The captions suggest Tsarnaev came to America as a child with his family as refugees after fleeing Chechnya. Dhokhar Tsarnaevposted links to Islamic and pro-Chechnyan independence sites on what appears to be his social media page.

The suspects' uncle told the local CBS News station that the pair had lived in the country since 2002. The uncle, when told that one of his nephews was killed, replied that he deserved it. “He deserved his. He absolutely deserved his,” Ruslan Tsarni said. “They do not deserve to live on this earth.”

Tsarni said he learned his nephews were suspects by reading a Russian language news source. "Since these people do have association to me by blood, I say they're barbarians," he added. "What can I say to people who he murdered? Sympathy. Condolences. I'm with them."

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, said that one or both of the brothers traveled back to the Caucasus region of Russia for a year or more before returning to America again.

Tsarnaev's father, reached by the AP in Russia by phone, said his son was a "true angel" and wonderful student. He later told ABC's Good Morning America that he wanted his son to surrender peacefully.

The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth announced shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Friday that they were evacuating the entire campus after learning Tsarnaev is a registered student there.

At sunrise, Gov. Deval Patrick ordered a shutdown of all public transit and residents on the edges of Boston to stay indoors as a massive manhunt for the second suspect was underway. The entire city in Boston was under a shelter in place order by late Friday morning. The Boston Globe reported that police are focusing on a 20-block area of Watertown, and fear the suspect may be wearing explosives.

“This situation is grave and we are trying to protect the public safety,” said Massachusetts State Police Col. Timothy Alben, who ordered a lockdown of Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, Cambridge, Newton, Allston and Brighton. A no fly zone has been declared over Watertown. The city of Boston was eerily quiet during Friday's rush hour, the city's busy intersections totally abandoned.

Marathon bombing suspect Tsarnaev (FBI)

Federal agents swarmed Watertown after local police were involved in a car chase and shootout with the men identified Thursday by the FBI as Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 in the Boston bombings. During the pursuit, officers could be heard on police radio traffic describing the men as having handguns, grenades and other explosives.

The mayhem began at approximately 10:20 p.m. Thursday when police said the bombing suspects robbed a 7-Eleven store in Cambridge. Minutes later, police said, the men shot and killed an MIT campus officer responding to the robbery call. The terror suspects then carjacked a Mercedes-Benz with the driver inside and fled, eventually letting driver go. They were then spotted in Watertown where they exchanged dozens of rounds of gunfire with patrol officers.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot by police and brought to Beth Israel Medical Center. He arrived at the hospital under cardiac arrest with multiple gunshot wounds and blast-like injuries to his chest. The second suspect fled on foot, leading to the tense manhunt that is still underway at this hour.

"We believe this to be a terrorist," said Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis. "We believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people. We need to get him into custody."

A transit officer, Richard H. Donohue, was seriously wounded during the exchange of gunfire, officials said.

[Related: FBI releases photos of suspects in Boston Marathon bombings]

Boston police says the suspect who remains at large was the "one in the white hat" seen in the photos released by the FBI on Thursday in the investigation into the twin explosions that killed 3 people and injured 170 others at the Boston Marathon on Monday.

In a radio alert sent issued to fellow officers, the suspect was described as a "white male with dark complexion ... with thick curly hair wearing a charcoal gray hooded sweatshirt ... possibly with an assault rifle and explosives." Police in Watertown, Newton, Brighton and Cambridge were put on high alert. "Units use caution," an officer said. "He might have an explosive object on his person."

Worried residents in Watertown, a suburb about 8 miles from downtown Boston, were ordered to stay indoors and turn off their cell phones out of fear that they could trigger improvised explosive devices.

"Suspect 2" seen in 7-Eleven surveillance footage; police in Watertown (BPD/Getty)

Dozens of police officers, many of them off-duty, searched backyards in pursuit of the second suspect, and a police perimeter of several blocks was established. K9 units and SWAT teams searched homes on Spruce Street as officers with a police robot searched an SUV that the suspects had abandoned. Multiple devices were left in the road and two handguns were recovered, according to police scanners.

Slain MIT police officer Sean Collier. (Middlesex DA)

The Watertown shootout occurred after a gunfight erupted near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the MIT police officer, 26-year-old Sean Collier, was shot and later died while responding to the brothers' robbery of the 7-11. The campus was placed on lockdown for several hours, and students were told to remain indoors.

Shortly before 2 a.m. Friday, MIT issued a statement on its websitesaying that the suspect "in this evening's shooting is no longer on campus. It is now safe to resume normal activities. Please remain vigilant in the coming hours." MIT, Harvard, Boston University and other local colleges have cancelled classes.

President Barack Obama, who attended an interfaith service for the bombing victims in Boston on Thursday, was briefed on the overnight developments, the White House said early Friday.

At approximately 3:30 a.m., Massachusetts State Police issued a plea on Twitter for residents of Watertown to lock their doors and not open them for anyone as they searched backyards and exteriors of houses there.

"Residents in and around Watertown should stay in their residences," the alert read. "Do NOT answer door unless it is an identified police officer."

Police were able to track down images of the suspects after a victim of the attacks, Jeff Bauman, came to them with a description, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Bauman's legs were torn apart by the bomb.

Here is a recap of the overnight developments in the all-out manhunt for one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects:

Video: Recap manhunt for Boston bombing suspects

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Special report: Boston Manhunt (see http://abcnews.go.com/live)