Illinois inmates join battle against floodwaters
ST. LOUIS - The dangers from a rare winter flood did not let up Wednesday, with officials keeping watch on 19 vulnerable levees along the Mississippi River and its tributaries as well as several smaller streams and lakes throughout Missouri and parts of Illinois.
Swollen rivers and streams were pushed to heights not seen since the massive 1993 floods, causing Illinois to transfer an unknown number of inmates from a state prison and declare disasters governor in seven counties and prompting Missouri's governor to activate the National Guard to help divert traffic away from submerged roads.
At least 20 deaths over several days in Missouri and Illinois were blamed on flooding, mostly involving vehicles that drove onto swamped roadways, and at least two people were still missing Wednesday. Some parts of interstates in Missouri reopened, while others were still covered by water.
Inmates from the Illinois Department of Corrections have been helping fill sandbags along rivers in the state as floodwaters rise.
State officials say flood response efforts from the State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield continued on Monday. They say inmates have worked nearly 8,200 hours and filled more than 125,000 sandbags so far. Two inmate crews were working Monday in Scott County, helping with the Big Swan Levee. Flooding started last month in Illinois and has left nine people dead.
Illinois emergency officials say the state is in contact with the National Weather Service, which reports that decreasing water levels on the Mississippi and Sangamon rivers. Meanwhile, waters are expected to rise on the Illinois River south of Peoria and on some locations along the Wabash River in southeastern Illinois.
CBS News' David Begnaud reports that in Alexander County, Illinois, the flooding is disastrous and temperatures near freezing.
On Monday, the Coast Guard flew CBS News over the spot where the 18 mile Len Small Levee failed, about 72 hours ago.
The breach is about a quarter mile wide sending water from the Mississippi River into a flood plan of the county at least 125 structures are flooded and 14,000 acres in the county are underwater. And the water is rising.
Officials in southwest Missouri want federal officials to help buy out property owners in a flood-prone area.
At issue is flooding along the Spring River, which was among the waterways to overflow after recent heavy rains. Last week, notices were posted on 20 homes warning that no rebuilding will be allowed until Jasper County assesses the property.
Presiding Jasper County Commissioner John Bartosh says the county would like to buy the land, raze the buildings or move mobile homes, and use the land as a park. The Joplin Globe (http://bit.ly/1RZOaCt) reports that the county unsuccessfully sought funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help cover buyout costs after 2007 flooding.
But Bartosh says the recent flooding was worse, with water getting up to the eaves in the houses.
Illinois' state climatologist says December weather that brought flooding to parts of the state also made it the second-wettest December in recorded state history.
Climatologist Jim Angel said Monday that the statewide average precipitation for the month was 6.7 inches. That's 4 inches more than average but still well short of the 7.17 inches that fell in 1982. That was the wettest December in state history and occurred during an El Nino like this winter.
For the year the average precipitation was 48.49 inches. That's 8.53 more than average and the sixth-wettest year in state history.
Last month was also the warmest December on record for Illinois.
Angel said the statewide average temperature was 40.6 degrees. That is 10.7 degrees above the average.
Hydrology experts say flooding along parts of the Illinois River in central Illinois will continue this week.
The National Weather Service says major flooding conditions persist on the river Monday in the city of Havana, about 45 miles southwest of Peoria. The flooding has spread south from Havana to the riverside towns of Beardstown, Meredosia, Valley City and Hardin near the Mississippi River.
A sandbag wall remains alongside the river in Peoria.
Flooding in recent weeks has killed nine people in Illinois. Steve Buan with the weather service's North Central River Forecast Center says this is the third near-record flood in less than three years along the Illinois River.
Buan says he expects the river to crest on Wednesday or Thursday if rainfall forecasts hold at less than an inch. He says many levees in Illinois have failed.