America's Midwest floods are the worst in 5 Centuries
Pastor Dale Morgan
America's Midwest floods are the worst in 5 Centuries*
By Alex Spillius
Last Updated: 1:06AM BST 16/06/2008
Receding water revealed widespread damage yesterday in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa's second-largest city, while the mid-western state's other cities
were braced for flooded rivers to peak today.
In Cedar Rapids, where 24,000 residents had been evacuated, city
officials set up 10 check points where residents will have to show an
identity document and sign in before being allowed to return home to
begin removing belongings.
In areas where the waters came above street signs, walkways were erected
on stilts to allow office workers to retrieve laptops and important
documents.
Dave Koch, the spokesman for the city's fire department, said additional
National Guard troops were being deployed to help secure the perimeter
around the flood area.
In the worst flooding for 500 years, 1,300 blocks were swamped and the
city nearly lost its drinking water supply.
It followed days of torrential rain that claimed at least 15 lives
across the region. About 5,000 residents have been displaced in the Iowa
City area, where an overnight curfew was in force.
People faced an anxious wait to see how high the river would rise above
flood marks. One of the main concerns was the University of Iowa, which
is split by the Iowa river and where more than 20 buildings flooded,
including the art museum and a recital hall.
With their backs bent in the sun and their shoulders red from exposure,
hundreds of volunteers at the university packed thousands of sandbags on
Saturday before giving up the fight.
Near Des Moines, workers opened a second breach in an already broken
levee to release surge waters into a nearby valley, allowing the city
authorities to lift a voluntary evacuation order on local residents.
More stormy weather hit parts of the mid-west yesterday, while storms
and 65mph winds knocked out electricity to 100,000 homes and businesses
in northern Illinois.
The Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, who toured
Quincy, Illinois, on Saturday, promised to press for federal assistance
for damaged areas.