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Author Topic: Divided by a river: Two states grapple with rising floodwaters  (Read 1457 times)

rupak26

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A mandatory evacuation was issued Saturday for a southwestern Illinois town threatened by the rain-swollen Mississippi River, an  that was issued as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers weighed whether to blow up a levee and flood rural farm communities to save the town.

Heavy rains have pushed the river to near-record levels, putting pressure on a tributary system that began buckling days earlier when a levee failed and flooded a handful of rural towns in southeastern Missouri.

"I know that the price being paid is high," said Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers, who told reporters during a briefing that he had flown over a number of the affected communities.