2008-06-16

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AFP) - Officials warily eyed the mighty Mississippi Monday swollen by days of flooding as waterlogged Iowan towns began a massive clean-up with damage set to run into the billions of dollars.

With some 2,500 National Guard already deployed across the state trying to keep the floodwaters at bay, experts believe the Mississippi, the country's second longest river, could crest either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Iowa Governor Chet Culver warned the Mississippi would be the next battleground, as floodwaters from the state's Cedar, Iowa and Des Moines rivers poured into larger river.

"It's likely we'll see major flooding in every city on the border, from New Boston on down. We're very concerned about that," he warned late Sunday.

The massive river, which passes through 10 states in its 3,734-kilometer (2,320-mile) journey from its source in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico, defines the border between Iowa and Illinois.

Parts of Illinois are already underwater, and officials there are bracing for the same kind of misery heaped on homes and businesses in Iowa, where 36,000 people have been evacuated, most from the town of Cedar Rapids.

"While this is a trying time for our state, every Iowan should know this: together, we will rebuild," Culver said Sunday, before touring the devastated areas on Monday.

"The waters will recede. Our citizens will rebuild and return to their homes. And Iowans will meet this challenge with optimism and resilience."

More than 11 million people in nine midwestern states have been affected by the flooding disaster and extreme weather of recent weeks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.

Iowa was by the far the hardest hit: 83 of its 99 counties have been declared disaster areas and more than 4.8 million sandbags were laid down to try to stem the tide.

Seventeen people have died has a results of the floods in Iowa since the start of the extreme weather on May 25, adding to another five deaths in neighboring states.

"It's some of the worst flooding I've seen since (Hurricane) Katrina" which hit New Orleans in August 2005, FEMA director David Paulison told CNN after touring the damage in Iowa.

Iowa Homeland Security Emergency Management spokesman Nick Klemesrud told AFP the water was receding, but it would take time to assess the damage, although he predicted the losses will be staggering.

"It's public infrastructure, it's personal homes, it's land, it's fields, it's livestock, it's public buildings," he said.

"We're in a situation where we're continuing response efforts in southeast Iowa because the surge in the river is in the Mississippi," he added.

The flooding will likely put further pressure on high global food prices, as initial estimates suggest a loss of up to 20 percent of Iowa's crops.

Barge traffic ground to a halt on the swollen Mississippi and rail shipments were also hit as floodwaters washed out track and key bridges.

The waters were said to be receding in several of the hardest hit towns including Cedar Rapids -- where 1,300 streets were submerged and 24,000 of the city's 124,000 residents were evacuated -- and Columbus Junction.

Television crews allowed into the downtown area of Cedar Rapids showed images of massive debris littering the streets, smashed store windows, warped furniture and sidewalks streaked with mud and sand.

Cars and houseboats had been floated downriver where they were trapped by a rail bridge, trees were torn from their roots, roads were washed out and bridges collapsed.

Hundreds of homes were evacuated in Iowa City Sunday, where the University of Iowa campus was badly hit with water flooding at least 16 buildings, including its museum.

Mary Brune, owner of Gips Consignment Service in Columbus Junction, watched helplessly on a highway as water filled the store she has run for 11 years.

"It's my livelihood," she said. "You just start from scratch. You start all over again. You see a big chunk of your life just float away."

  Email Article

  Discuss in the Forum

Back