Nebraska cities declare flooding emergencies
Millions in 14 states affected as waters rage
In Nebraska on Tuesday, 74 cities, 65 counties and four tribal areas declared states of emergency as swaths of the Midwest battled rivers swollen by days of heavy rains and spring snowmelt.
Three deaths have been blamed on the flooding in Nebraska, but the waters were raging in more than a dozen states. More than 8 million people in 14 states live where a flood warning has been in effect in recent days, the National Weather Service said.
About 200 miles of levees were compromised in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. Thousands of people have been driven from their homes by the fast-rising waters.
In North Dakota, Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney declared a state of emergency despite what he described as tremendous strides in permanent flood protection in recent years.
“This is a very serious flood forecast, and we will meet it with a serious response,” he said. “It is critically important for everyone to know that we will need the public’s assistance. We cannot be complacent.”
In Illinois, Freeport City Manager Lowell Crow said the town of 25,000 residents west of Rockford could see an all-time record flood along the Pecatonica River. City officials were bracing for flooding in the downtown area, he said.
In Missouri, 130 people were urged to leave their Atchison County homes near strained levees, three of which had already been overtopped by water. Missouri State Highway Patrol crews were on standby for rescues. “The next four to five days are going to be pretty rough,” said Rhonda Wiley, the county emergency management and 911 director.
The Missouri River was expected to crest Thursday in St. Joseph, Missouri, at its third-highest level on record, the National Weather Service said. Military C-130 planes have been evacuated from nearby Rosecrans Air National Guard base.
In Iowa, water stood 10 feet high near Pacific Junction, where only the top halves of gas stations, homes and storage units were visible. Mills County Emergency Management Director Larry Hurst said the flooding might be worse than some of the most extreme historical events — in 1952, 1993 and 2011.
“This is actually different even than the flood of ’52,” he said. “There’s water on this entire basin.”
Water continued to gush through a levee break near the Plattsmouth Toll Bridge, where the Platte and Missouri rivers converge. The mystery, he said, is the timeline for the water to recede.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think anybody knows.”
Glenwood Mayor Ron Kohn said his city of 5,000 was in pretty good shape. But to the west, where the aging levee broke under rapidly rising waters last week, farms were swamped.
“That’s all going to be gone until next year, I’m sure,” Kohn said. “Rice is about all they could grow out there now.”