they perform cool as well. be sure to stay tuned for that. story should be good. good morning and thanks for being with us on this friday. i m vinita nair. i m rob nelson. thousands in the upper midwest are spinning the night away from home because of rising floodwaters. up to a foot of rain has fallen in some areas. more could fall by day break. the hardest hit are owatonna, minnesota, and arcadia, wisconsin. alex stone reports. reporter: a powerful storm soaked the upper midwest on thursday, swelling rivers and creeks. water basin and flooding is continuing to rise so it s causing a lot of problems for us. reporter: the heavy rains forced mandatory evacuations in arcadia, wisconsin. police officers went door to door in the rain to urge over half of the town s residents, about 1,500, to get out of harm s way. i feel sorry for the people of arcadia. the people losing things. basements are going to be flooded and things like that.
just, you know it s terrible. reporter: raging rivers are threatening towns all over. wisconsin and minnesota. flooding streets and basements like jeff s in owatonna. two and a half, three feet of water right now. we re getting ready to pump it out. reporter: wisconsin s governor declared a state of emergency and is ordering the national guard to help stricken homeowners. mother nature was not a very good thing today. reporter: more rain is expected, making the flooding worse. alex stone, abc news. meanwhile, tropical storm matthew is threatening central america. the storm is packing winds up to 45 miles an hour. it s expected to dump some heavy rain across honduras and nicaragua tomorrow. forecasters say it should weaken, though, as it heads toward mexico s yucatan peninsula. now here s a look at your friday forecast. more showers in the flooded upper midwest and cleveland, louisville, nashville and memphis. showers and thunderstorms from el paso to little rock.