Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 19 March 2019
Homes flood as Missouri River overtops, breaches levees

By HEATHER HOLLING- on staying despite the dan- management director, clared an emergency and when the vehicle he was in
SWORTH ger. Mike Crecelius, said Mon- asked residents to help fill went around a barricade.
Associated Press “The next four to five days day that more water was 1 million sandbags in re- On Thursday, Columbus
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — are going to be pretty flooding into low-lying parts sponse to a weather ser- farmer James Wilke, 50,
Hundreds of homes flood-
ed in several Midwestern
states after rivers breached
at least a dozen levees
following heavy rain and
snowmelt in the region, au-
thorities said Monday while
warning that the flooding
was expected to linger.
About 200 miles of levees
were compromised — ei-
ther breached or over-
topped — in four states,
the U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers said. Even in plac-
es where the water level
peaked in those states —
Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri
and Kansas — the current
was fast and the water so
high that damage contin-
ued to pile up. The flood-
ing was blamed for at least
three deaths.
“The levees are busted and
we aren’t even into the wet
season when the rivers run
high,” said Tom Bullock, the
emergency management
director for Missouri’s Holt
County.
He said many homes in a
mostly rural area of Holt Floodwaters surround buildings on the southwest side of Hamburg, Iowa, Sunday, March 17, 2019.
County were inundated Associated Press
with 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1
meters) of water from the rough,” said Rhonda Wiley, of Hamburg, where a wall vice warning that snowmelt died when a bridge col-
swollen Missouri River. He Atchison County’s emer- of sand-filled barriers was poses a big risk in Fargo. lapsed as he used a tractor
noted that local farmers gency management and breached when one failed. Sandbag-filling operations to try and reach stranded
are only a month away 911 director. President Donald Trump start March 26. motorists.
from planting corn and soy- The Missouri River already tweeted Monday that he In Illinois, weather service Two men in Nebraska have
beans. crested upstream of Oma- is staying in close contact readings showed major been missing since Thurs-
“The water isn’t going to ha, Nebraska, though with Iowa Gov. Kim Reyn- flooding along the Peca- day.
be gone, and the levees hundreds of people re- olds and South Dakota tonica River at Shirland and One was last seen on top
aren’t going to be fixed this mained out of their homes Gov. Kristi Noem about the Freeport, and the Rock Riv- of his flooded car; the oth-
year,” said Bullock, whose and water continued to flooding. er in the Rockford area and er was swept away after a
own home was now on an pour through busted le- Reynolds, touring flood- Moline. dam collapsed.
island surrounded by flood- vees. Flooding was so bad ravaged areas of the state Freeport City Manager The Missouri Department
water. around Fremont, Nebraska, for the second straight day, Lowell Crow said officials of Transportation reported
One couple was rescued that just one lane of U.S. 30 warned that flooding will there expected the Peca- about 100 flood-related
by helicopter after water was uncovered outside the worsen along the Mississippi tonica River “to possibly rise road closures, including a
from three breached le- city of 26,000. State law en- River as snow melts to the to a record level or at least stretch of Interstate 29.
vees swept across 40,000 forcement limited traffic on north. to a level we haven’t seen Jud Kneuvean, emergency
acres (16,188 hectares), he that road to pre-approved The National Weather Ser- in 50 years.” manager with the Army
said. Another nine breach- trucks carrying gas, food, vice said the river was ex- The flooding started after Corp of Engineers’ Kansas
es were confirmed in Ne- water and other essential pected to crest Thursday a massive late-winter storm City district, blamed rain-
braska and Iowa counties supplies. in St. Joseph, Missouri, at hit the Midwest last week. fall, snowmelt and higher
south of the Platte River, “There are no easy fixes to its third-highest level on re- The high water was blamed temperatures “converging
the Corps said. any of this,” said Fremont cord. Military C-130 planes in the deaths of three peo- all at the same time.” No
In Atchison County, Mis- City Administrator Brian were evacuated last week ple from Nebraska. Betty significant flooding was ex-
souri, about 130 people Newton. “We need Moth- from nearby Rosecrans Air Hamernik, 80, of rural Co- pected east of Kansas City,
were urged to leave their er Nature to decrease the National Guard base. lumbus, was trapped in though Kneuvean said
homes as water levels rose height of the river.” In North Dakota, Fargo was her home by the fast-rising the Corps was monitoring
and strained levees, three In southwest Iowa, the Mis- preparing for potentially Loup River. closely.
of which had already been souri River reached a level major flooding along the Her body was recovered “When you have a high riv-
overtopped by water. Mis- in Fremont County that was Red River — the same river Saturday. er and have any forecast
souri State Highway Patrol 2 feet (0.6 meter) above a that ravaged the city a de- Aleido Rojas Galan of Nor- of rain on it, it can change
crews were on standby to record set in 2011. cade ago. folk was swept away Friday the scenario very quickly,”
rescue anyone who insisted The county’s emergency Mayor Tim Mahoney de- night in southwestern Iowa, Kneuvean said.q