27 Levees May Spill in Iowa and Missouri

By Diane Smith
15:26, June 17th 2008
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27 Levees May Spill in Iowa and Missouri

More floods are imminent in the states of Iowa and Missouri as rising flood waters might spill more than two dozen levees along the Mississippi River according to a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

This could be avoided if people top the levees with enough sandbags to hold the rising water. If not, the death toll and the devastation will surely rise in the two states. Until now, authorities said five people died in Missouri due to the massive floods, nearly 38,000 were evacuated from their homes and about $1 billion worth of crops were lost in Iowa alone.

According to the forecasts made by the National Weather Service, the heavy rain will raise the waters of the Mississippi River to a level where it will spill over 26 or 27 levees between Davenport, Iowa and St. Louis, Missouri, about 200 miles away, said Ron Fournier, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He added, however, that the people endangered by the imminent floods could prevent it by working together to top the levees with more sandbags.

Several other rivers which feed into the Mississippi River have a very high water level, including the Cedar, Des Moines and Iowa rivers.

"We're looking at all-time flood records in terms of levels. The challenges remain, but we are more determined than ever to win the fight," said Gov. Chet Culver according to CNN.

Officials are already working to place millions of sandbags on top of the levees in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri to prevent overflowing, The Associated Press reported, but nobody can assure the people threatened by the swollen waters that the levees will hold.



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