(Ebru News/AP) The rising Mississippi River broke through a levee, forcing authorities to rescue at least a half-dozen people by helicopter, boat and four-wheeler as floodwaters moved south into Illinois and Missouri. Levees continued to be created in several cities in the midwestern United States. Army National guardsmen filled sandbags and stacked them along the water in Canton, Missouri.
But even as the water jeopardised scores of additional homes and businesses, officials said the damage could have been worse if the federal government had not taken steps to clear flood-prone land after historic floods in 1993.
Bob Powers - FEMA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Disaster Operations:
"We're working with the corps of engineers on levees and protection of levees. The corps of engineers has delivered over 11 million sandbags to the area to assist in levee protection."
On Tuesday, the flooding halted car travel over two bridges linking Illinois and Iowa and threatened to cover areas near tiny Gulfport with 10 feet of water.
Preliminary estimates were that flooding has caused more than 1.5 billion US dollars in damage in Iowa, and that figure will undoubtedly rise as the high water moves downstream.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has moved or flood-proofed about 30-thousand properties.
Bob Powers - FEMA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Disaster Operations:
"The focus is not on FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). The focus is on the state and our job is to make sure that the state is successful. And so far we have been able to meet every requirement that the state has asked - all of the states have asked - and we're prepared to deliver more. We've been working 24 hours a day and we're going to be there until the very end."
In Iowa, FEMA spent 1.6 million US dollars to buy out residents of Elkport, population 80, and then knock down the village's remaining buildings.