U.S. Midwest floods: Worst may be yet to come, officials say
Swollen rivers, streams pushed to heights not seen in nearly 25 years
As swollen rivers and streams pushed to heights not seen in nearly a quarter-century, officials in Missouri and Illinois helped residents get to higher ground Wednesday amid fears that already dire conditions could worsen as floodwaters began spilling over federal levees protecting communities and farmland.
In Eureka southwest of St. Louis, firefighters and their boats have been in high demand since Tuesday, accounting for roughly four dozen rescues of people in their homes, businesses or vehicles. Television news footage showed at least one home there drifting in the swollen river Wednesday, when firefighters rescued by boat a man and a dog as floodwaters lapped at the eaves of the house roof on which they'd been trapped for a night.
- Floods add to the misery in U.S. Midwest
- Texas surveys tornado damage as deadly U.S. storm system brings new woes to Midwest
"Our crews are getting dispatched to another rescue now," Scott Barthelmass, a Eureka Fire Protection District spokesman, said mid-afternoon Wednesday as the swollen Meramec River there was cresting. "I think you're seeing people who are desperate or impatient, putting themselves in predicaments."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Wednesday that nine levees had been topped by water. Most of those earthen barriers were meant to protect farmland rather than populated areas and another was along now-deserted, manmade Chouteau Island near St. Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.
Nearly a dozen other levees considered at risk for "possible significant distress," were holding as of Wednesday evening, but people were moving out just in case.
At least 20 deaths over several days in Missouri and Illinois were blamed on flooding, mostly involving vehicles that drove on to swamped roadways, and at least two people were still missing Wednesday.
And search teams went out for a third day in hopes of finding a country music singer from Arkansas who disappeared while duck hunting in a flooded area in northern Oklahoma.
A 40-kilometre stretch of Interstate 44 was closed at Valley Park southwest of St. Louis due to Meramec River flooding. The closure forced traffic on to other nearby roads, creating gridlock in the St. Louis region. Officials said the highway will likely remain closed through at least Friday.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has activated the national guard to assist with security in evacuated areas and to help keep road closure sites clear.
Pennise said the corps is confident the levee, built in 2007, is safe, but ordered evacuations as a precaution.
"You don't want to think negative, but we'd rather save a life than a couch," Pennise said.
In the southwestern Missouri tourist mecca of Branson, about 150 duplexes and homes had to be evacuated Wednesday due to flooding from a manmade lake. But the shopping district along the lake was still open, fire Chief Ted Martin said, adding, "it has been packed with people, and I don't know where all of them have come from."
About 100 kilometresto the north in Pleasant Hope, the emergency management director said crews are looking for a missing motorist. "Nobody that is living has ever seen anything like this," Rick Davis said.
Three-day rainfall totals of up to 280 millimetres were records in some parts of an area that stretched from southwest to east-central Missouri, said Mark Fuchs, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service in St. Louis.
The Mississippi River is expected to reach nearly four metres above flood stage on Thursday at St. Louis, which would be the second-worst flood on record, behind only the devastating 1993 flood.
In the historic riverfront city of Alton, Ill., some downtown business owners continued to scramble Wednesday to keep out rising water from the Mississippi River. Most of the damage in the city 25 kilometres north of St. Louis, a stop on the 19th-century Underground Railroad, was confined to high water in some basements.