An unwelcome visitor crept up on Dorothy Reed’s home in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, last Wednesday: the Mississippi River. "It’s on my back porch, and it will probably be in the rest of the house tomorrow," she said. "It’s no fun."
There wasn’t much joy along the muddy Mississippi last week as floods forced hundreds to flee their homes in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. By last Friday, these states had declared 35 counties disaster areas. Boat and barge traffic came to a halt. Roads were closed, and train travel between Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, was canceled.
Melting snow caused the river to swell, and new rainfall in the flooded states made matters even worse. St. Paul, Minnesota, saw its highest flood levels since the 1960s, as four parks and a small airport were swallowed up. Gary McDevitt of the National Weather Service said the river was likely to stay high for several weeks.
Forecasters noted that towns farther south would be hit even harder this week. Communities in Illinois and Iowa called on volunteers to help fill sandbags and build dikes to hold back the water. Some schools let students out of class to pitch in.