Monday, June 16, 2008

Death Toll In Midwest Floods Rises To 5

   
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Death Toll In Midwest Floods Rises To 5

Two More Deaths Reported In Iowa

POSTED: 8:17 am EDT June 16, 2008
UPDATED: 12:58 pm EDT June 16, 2008

Two more deaths are being reported in flood-ravaged Iowa.

That brings the state's flood-related death toll to five.

A 35-year-old man apparently drowned in Iowa River floodwaters near Wapello, and a woman was killed near New London when her stopped car was hit by a National Guard bus involved in flood duty.

Some residents were breathing a sigh of relief Monday as the Iowa River's crest arrived earlier and lower than expected. But emergency officials caution the situation is still precarious.

More than 36,000 residents in 26 Iowa towns were out of their homes Monday morning, with most of them from around Cedar Rapids.

Hundreds of homes were evacuated Sunday, but it's not known how many were damaged.

State officials also warned of problems facing towns in southeastern Iowa along the Mississippi River.

They were sandbagging in Burlington, where the river is already rising. So far, 350 people have evacuated from their homes there.

Sandbagging was also under way in Ottumwa to protect the city's water treatment plant. On Sunday, eight people were pulled from the Des Moines River there after their boat capsized.

People in the little riverfront town of Columbus Junction, Iowa, put up a good fight in a losing cause against the river. The mayor said the community spirit and sandbagging efforts were "phenomenal."

Despite days of shoring up the levee, the town was inundated. Downtown, including the hospital, water plant and senior center, was under 10 feet of water Monday.

Across the Mississippi in Illinois, more than 400 members of the Army National Guard were sandbagging in Quincy. Soldiers expected to fill a half-million sandbags as they helped to fortify levees along a 15-mile stretch on their side of the swollen Mississippi near Quincy.

About 100 miles up the river in Keithsburg, Ill., water sat as high as 3 or 4 feet Monday. Multiple levee breaks prompted voluntary weekend evacuations.

Meanwhile, Amtrak was suspending service Monday between Chicago and destinations to the north and west because of flooding across the Midwest.

Service between St. Paul and Chicago and between Chicago and Denver is temporarily suspended due to the flooding.

Amtrak said it would provide rides by chartered bus for some destinations, but it isn't offering any travel alternatives to or from cities in hard-hit Iowa.

President George W. Bush will visit the Midwest on Thursday to inspect flood damage, the White House announced Monday.

Press secretary Dana Perino said said the places the president will visit have not been chosen.


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