Little Progress on At-Risk Levees: Feds

(NEWSER) - Even if the government somehow managed to re-create pre-Katrina New Orleans, it couldn't guarantee the safety of the city and its residents, according to a new report. The Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding levees in anticipation of a “100-year storm,” but for a city of New Orleans’ size nothing is truly sufficient, the Times-Picayune reports. The report recommends relocating people living in at-risk areas. More»

More failures in Ill., Mo., swamp farmland

(NEWSER) - More levee breaks in Missouri and Illinois today put at 19 the number that have failed along the cresting Mississippi, Reuters reports, further swamping farmland. "They were lower level agricultural levees," said an Army Corps of Engineers spokesman. "We're also watching another seven levees that may overtop in the next couple of days … all agricultural levees." More»

Aging infrastructure is barely coping with severe weather

(NEWSER) - The worst flooding in 15 years has exposed some serious vulnerabilities in the Midwest's aging infrastructure, the Chicago Tribune reports. Levees, bridges, and dams, some a century old, are barely coping with severe storms—while some are collapsing completely. Dikes and levees broke in several states last week after torrential rains, destroying homes and flooding farmland. More»

Disaster areas declared as Big Muddy reaches record levels

(NEWSER) - A slow-moving disaster is making its way down the Mississippi River. Authorities fear that floodwaters will exceed records set during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, one of the greatest natural disasters in American history. Tributaries that flow into the Mississippi are already backing up, and disaster areas have been declared in parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky, AP reports. "I've never seen it this bad," said a 78-year-old resident who has lived in his Kentucky house for 77 years. Floodwaters have now turned his home into an island—dry but surrounded by water. More»

US Supreme Court rejects Missouri's request to halt operation

(NEWSER) - The Army Corps of Engineers lit up the Missouri skyline last night, blowing a two-mile gap in a levee, and activating a 1920s flood plan that has not been used since 1937. The explosions along the levee near drenched Cairo caused water to gush over prime farmland, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»