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TechnographTwo more Illinois levee breaches, small town evacuates
By The Associated Press
Posted: 6/18/08 Section: News
GULFPORT, Ill. - Floodwaters breached two levees in western Illinois on Wednesday, and the federal government warned that 20 to 30 more levees may overflow along the Mississippi River.
The breaches about 45 miles south of Gulfport flooded farmland near the hamlet of Meyer and south of there in the Indian Graves levee district, Adams County Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Julie Shepard said.
Meyer, a community of 40 to 50 people across the river just north of Canton, Mo., had been evacuated late Tuesday and authorities patrolled the town Wednesday to make sure nobody was left behind, Shepard said.
Flooding at Meyer could swamp 30,000 acres - about 47 square miles - in the largely rural area, she said.
Officials monitored levees in other Mississippi River towns in Illinois and Missouri in hopes that they would hold.
Twenty levees already have overflowed this week, the Army Corps of Engineers said. The other levees could overflow if sandbagging efforts fail to raise the levees' levels.
The levees in danger protect rural, industrial and agricultural areas - not heavily populated towns. Levees protecting large towns are not as at risk of overflowing, officials said.
Early Wednesday, floodwaters began overtopping levees between Hannibal, Mo. and Quincy, Ill. The levees protect two city wells used by the town of Palmyra, Ill., 4,000 acres of farmland and Burlington-Northern Railroad tracks.
Flooding that began in eastern Iowa caused more than $1.5 billion in damage as it crept south toward the Mississippi. About 25,000 people in Cedar Rapids were forced from their homes, 19 buildings at the University of Iowa were flooded and water treatment plants in several cities were knocked out.
Now the floodwaters are a problem for communities such as Gulfport and Clarksville, Mo.
Authorities rescued people by helicopter, boat and four-wheeler on Tuesday after the river broke through a levee in Gulfport.
The breaches about 45 miles south of Gulfport flooded farmland near the hamlet of Meyer and south of there in the Indian Graves levee district, Adams County Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Julie Shepard said.
Meyer, a community of 40 to 50 people across the river just north of Canton, Mo., had been evacuated late Tuesday and authorities patrolled the town Wednesday to make sure nobody was left behind, Shepard said.
Flooding at Meyer could swamp 30,000 acres - about 47 square miles - in the largely rural area, she said.
Officials monitored levees in other Mississippi River towns in Illinois and Missouri in hopes that they would hold.
Twenty levees already have overflowed this week, the Army Corps of Engineers said. The other levees could overflow if sandbagging efforts fail to raise the levees' levels.
The levees in danger protect rural, industrial and agricultural areas - not heavily populated towns. Levees protecting large towns are not as at risk of overflowing, officials said.
Early Wednesday, floodwaters began overtopping levees between Hannibal, Mo. and Quincy, Ill. The levees protect two city wells used by the town of Palmyra, Ill., 4,000 acres of farmland and Burlington-Northern Railroad tracks.
Flooding that began in eastern Iowa caused more than $1.5 billion in damage as it crept south toward the Mississippi. About 25,000 people in Cedar Rapids were forced from their homes, 19 buildings at the University of Iowa were flooded and water treatment plants in several cities were knocked out.
Now the floodwaters are a problem for communities such as Gulfport and Clarksville, Mo.
Authorities rescued people by helicopter, boat and four-wheeler on Tuesday after the river broke through a levee in Gulfport.
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