Relief operationsin full swing asriver keeps rising

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-20  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

SANDBAGGING operations continued at a frantic pace in the American states of Illinois and Missouri as residents and officials battled to contain the Mississippi River after flooding that has resulted so far in 24 deaths and thousands of evacuations across six states.

President George W. Bush, whose administration came under fire for its handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, planned yesterday to inspect two of Iowa's flooded cities, where the water was receding but families and businesses are knee-deep in the disheartening aftermath. The stops in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are Bush's first in the region since heavy rains sent rivers surging over their banks.

Bush was in Europe when the severe weather hit last week, but he made a point to show his deep concern from abroad. He is first getting a briefing in Cedar Rapids, which endured its worst flooding ever. The town was submerged by the Cedar River. Bush is to view the damage by helicopter on his way to Iowa City, a flood-damaged college town 48 kilometers to the southeast.

With the region still grappling with the impact of the floods, forecasters predicted near-record crests along a roughly 145-kilometer stretch from Quincy, Illinois, to Winfield, Missouri.

Federal officials predicted as many as 30 more levees could overflow this week, leaving industrial and agricultural areas vulnerable but sparing major residential centers. So far this week, 20 levees have overflowed.

At least 10 have been topped in Illinois and Missouri in recent days, including two south of tiny Gulfport, Illinois, that threatened to swamp 12,100 hectares of farmland near the town of Meyer, Illinois.

A 450-kilometer stretch of the Mississippi River between Fulton, Illinois, and Winfield, Missouri, is expected to remain closed for at least 10 more days because of flooding. As many as 10 tow boats - each with as many as 15 barges - were believed stuck on the upper Mississippi River.

Overall, the storms and flooding across six Midwestern states this month have killed 24 people, injured 148 and caused more than US$1.5 billion in estimated damage in Iowa alone - a figure likely to increase as river levels climb in Missouri and Illinois. The flooding has also devastated agriculture in the region, sending corn prices sharply higher in a rally that could reverberate outside US borders.