Mississippi Levees Burst north of St. Louis, threatening towns

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



Mississippi River Levees Burst North of St. Louis, AP Reports

By Camilla Hall

June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Three Mississippi River levees broke north of St. Louis in Missouri's Lincoln County, sending a wave of water toward the town of Foley and raising concern in nearby Winfield, the Associated Press reported.

The river was overflowing 90 percent of the levees in eastern Lincoln County, and at least four more breaks were expected early today, AP reported, citing the county's emergency management spokesman, Andy Binder.

While the situation worsened in Lincoln County, the breaks mean the Mississippi won't reach record crest levels downstream, AP said. Authorities predict the river will crest at 37.3 feet (11.4 meters) today in St. Louis, short of the 49.6 feet reached during flooding in 1993, the news agency reported.

The swelling of the Mississippi was prompted by storms this month in the Midwest that caused the worst flooding in 15 years, killing at least 24 people and injuring 148, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said two days ago. Corn prices soared to a record this week as the water swamped crops.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avJaAklKQ3lg&refer=home

[bdamomma]

1. oh god, this is terrible, forget about the government ever helping

us regular people.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Drove The Chevy To The Levee

I've driven down the river road...many of those levees are decades old...some are more than a century old...it's not surprising that we're seeing such stress on the system. It's even moreso as dams and other obstructions on the river (bridges, dams) have increased the river's flow when it gets "fat".

It appears many of these levees are in open farm areas...low lands that have been flooded many times and will benefit from this flood as it has in the past making those lands around the river highly productive. The diversion also is saving some of the towns along the river from worse flooding. It's bad and we'll be paying for it in higher costs (especially food) this fall...but in the end, the flooding on the Misssissippi will leave short-term scars, but in the long-term the area will bounce back quickly.

[CrispyQ]

3. America drowns

as our treasury is being siphoned off by the military industrial complex.

[HereSince1628]

4. Yesterday the flood crested in Jefferson WI. The water is down 1/2 inch

The Rock empties into the Mississippi at the quad cities, the northern reaches of the watershed recieved more than 10 (in some places as much as 14) inches of rain. That water is still working its way downstream. At Jefferson the river is down half an inch after four days of dry weather. The rain won't hold off forever.

It's gonna take weeks for the water to drop back below flood. This promises to be a long duration slow motion disaster working its way south.