Several rivers in the Midwest are above flood stage, and on Tuesday morning, a levee along Missouri’s Black River breached, flooding homes and causing people to evacuate in Butler County, Missouri. As of this morning, it’s reported that the levee has failed in at least four places.
It’s reminiscent of other recent floods—including, as many of them are, the levee failures during Hurricane Katrina. More than 50 people were rescued from flooding homes on Monday as water started to overtop the levee, and the National Weather Service was predicting potential record flooding in the area. It’s too early to tell at this point whether other at-risk portions of the levee will hold; if not, the town of Poplar Bluff is in danger of widespread flooding as well.
National Guard troops were working to shore up the levee in places, but in some areas sandbagging wasn’t even attempted because the water level was rising too fast.
Our thoughts are with those who are evacuating the area and who are working to protect it. If you are in the area or in one of the other locations that has been experiencing heavy rains or flooding and would like to comment on conditions in your area, please do so below.