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Wis. storms blamed for second death

Douglas County Emergency Management Director Keith Kesler says he's unaware of any evacuations from the damage Monday.

ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) - Authorities are attributing another death in Wisconsin to the storms that caused widespread flooding in the Upper Midwest.

The Sawyer County Sheriff's Office says severe thunderstorms toppled a large oak tree onto a camper on Lake Chetac, killing a man inside and injuring a woman and two young children Sunday.

Sheriff's officials identify the victim as 55-year-old James Pluff, of Redwood Falls, Minnesota. They say the woman and children suffered non-life threatening injuries and were taken to a hospital in Rice Lake.

Storms and flooding also caused the death of a 75-year-old man whose body was found not far from his pickup truck along a flooded road in Ashland County Sunday.

Those same storms and heavy rains have caused an earthen dam to fail in a rural area of northwestern Wisconsin.

Douglas County Emergency Management Director Keith Kesler says he's unaware of any evacuations from the damage Monday. Few people live in the area.

Kesler says water is overtopping the Radigan Flowage Dam west of Dairlyland after several days of rain.

The National Weather Service says local law enforcement is reporting that the damage is causing flooding downstream on the Tamarack River, as the water flows toward the St. Croix River between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Flash flooding could affect roads and highways in the area.

A state of emergency has been declared in Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Iron counties in northwest Wisconsin. At least one person has died as a result of the flooding.

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