7/15/93
By: J.L. Hazelton
Associated Press Writer

WEST ALTON, Mo. (AP) ‹ With the Mississippi River two miles out of its bed, the 500 residents of this town were the latest ordered to evacuate because the surging river was threatening levees.

The deadly flooding, which has spread to other rivers in the region, has been blamed for 12 deaths throughout the Midwest and billions of dollars in damage.

In West Alton, a group of 150 volunteers gave up the fight against the rain-swollen river Tuesday after more than two days of stacking sandbags when the National Weather Service decided the river would crest 2 feet higher than they first thought.

"It's going to wipe the whole town out," said Paul Luster, who moved some of his furniture out of his house Sunday and the rest of his belongs to the second floor. "What they're predicting, it's not going to be safe."

That's getting to be the case all over the Midwest. At St. Louis, the Mississippi was at 38.1 feet, 8.1 feet over flood stage and within range of the record 43.3 feet reached during what has come to be known as the Great Flood of 1973.

The water isn't likely to recede soon. Rain keeps falling upstream and the Mississippi hit record levels Tuesday at some Iowa towns and kept rising. The Red Cross opened three new shelters in Missouri and six in Iowa.

Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan toured some of the flooded areas of St. Charles County in a National Guard helicopter Tuesday and later toured West Alton by car.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad toured the Burlington area Tuesday and called up 80 more National Guard members for sandbagging, bringing the total in that state to nearly 600.

The Guard also was helping out with evacuations and sandbagging in Illinois and Missouri.

Some of the worst flooding was in Davenport, Iowa, which has no levees or flood walls.

The Mississippi appeared to have crested there at 22 feet Monday and was down slightly Tuesday. But because of more heavy rain in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, it was expected to rise again today, cresting at 22.4 feet, just short of the record 22.5 feet set in 1965. Flood stage is 15 feet.

Downstream, the river hit a record 22.5 feet Tuesday at Burlington, Iowa, and was expected to climb another foot by Friday. Flood stage is 15 feet. The river also hit a record 23.8 feet at Keokuk, Iowa, with an additional 2.7 feet expected by Friday. Flood stage is 16 feet.

In Keokuk, the flood even chased the Coast Guard from its control center, forcing workers to relocate to a hotel.

Farmers are taking the worst financial hit with farmland too wet to plant in some places and crops underwater for days in others.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, who toured Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin last week, said Tuesday he would let farmers use certain farm programs to cut their losses.

People who make their living transporting goods up and down the Mississippi also have suffered.

A 436-mile stretch from East Dubuque, Ill., at the southern edge of Wisconsin, to near Lock and Dam No. 26 just north of St. Louis remained closed indefinitely.

Even motorists and gamblers were affected. A stretch of Interstate 80 in Iowa was closed Tuesday after water from the Iowa River flowed onto the highway. Nearly 30 other roadways also closed because of high water.

Rail and truck traffic has been rerouted around submerged areas in Iowa and Illinois, and overflowing rivers have restricted or shut down the operations of four riverboat casinos in Iowa and Illinois.