After a week of torrential rains, six Midwestern states are struggling with massive flooding. Two Mississippi River bridges and part of the river have been closed as the waters continue to rise.
Members of the Missouri National Guard and others work to shore up a temporary levee in an effort to hold back the swollen Mississippi River Saturday, in Clarksville, Mo. Communities along the Mississippi River and other rain-engorged waterways are waging feverish bids to hold back floodwaters that may soon approach record levels.
Jeff Roberson/AP
EnlargeAn all-too-familiar springtime ritual played out around the nation's heartland this weekend as volunteers, National Guardsmen and even prison inmates joined together in an effort to ward off fast-rising floodwaters.
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Dangerously high waters dotted at least six Midwestern states following torrential rains this past week that dumped up to 7 inches in some locations. Record flooding was possible in some places as dozens of rivers overflowed their banks.
The water levels forced evacuations, closed roads, swamped hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and shut down much of the upper Mississippi River to barge traffic.
Two Mississippi River bridges were closed and a third was shut down for a few hours after 114 barges broke loose Saturday night south of St. Louis and floated down the fast-moving river toward Jefferson Barracks Bridge in St. Louis County. The Missouri Department of Transportation shut down the bridge at 2 a.m. Sunday for an inspection; it reopened at 8 a.m.
Because of the danger posed by the runaway barges, the US Coast Guard shut down a 15-mile stretch of the river, much of which was already effectively closed between the Quad Cities and north of St. Louis after the Army Corps of Engineers shut down most locks in that stretch or river.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Weelmaa said the barges had been moored along the side of the river when they broke free, and it wasn't clear how that happened. By midmorning Sunday, all of the barges had been corralled with help from several St. Louis-area tow operators, Weelmaa said.
Several Mississippi River towns north of St. Louis were expected to see crests sometime Sunday, including Clarksville, Mo.
Volunteers in the tiny community have worked endlessly since Wednesday to build a makeshift sandbag levee that seemed to be holding as the crest? expected to be 11 feet above flood stage ? approached. Even prisoners from far-away Jefferson City were brought in to help.
Richard Cottrell, 64, emerged from his two-story brick home ? dating to 1845, the oldest dwelling in town ? around breakfast Sunday to walk his beagle and survey Mississippi's persistent rise. A sandbag wall just in front of his house was holding the river at bay as workers a half a block away hustled to fortify it.
After two days of endless sandbagging, Cottrell thought he could rest Saturday night, but the constant beeping of heavy equipment outside and flood worries kept him up.
"I had a rough night last night. I had an anxiety attack," said Cottrell, who also owns a downtown antique store.
Trish Connelly, 57, was optimistic the town would beat back the river. Her plan to open a new fine arts gallery downtown this weekend were on hold "until we know what the river is going to do," she said.
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