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Waves of flood waters from the Mississippi River and many of its tributaries have ravaged several U.S. states from Illinois to Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, with other downstream states such as Tennessee and Louisiana expected to see crests passing through until mid-January.
Crests passed S.Ilinois,set for downstream
The historical winter flooding, caused by three-day rains of more than 10 inches (25 cm) beginning on Christmas Day, has so far claimed 31 lives in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, most of whom drove their vehicles into flooded areas, according to Reuters.
The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) on Sunday canceled flash flood warnings for three counties in southern Illinois, where record or near-record water levels were about to breach embankments.
Nine people have died in the state of Illinois so far, and a dozen counties have been declared disaster areas, Reuters quoted Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Patti Thompson as saying.
The NWS forecast that significant flooding was expected to continue into mid-January as crests are set to pass through Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana, possibly causing some backup flooding in feeder rivers of the Mississippi.
Recovery to take weeks
As local residents move out furniture, appliances and clothes no longer usable onto streets and await disposal crews to pick them up, recovery will take weeks if not months, said The Associated Press.
U.S. President Barack Obama, just returning from holiday in Hawaii, signed a federal emergency declaration on Saturday for Missouri after its Governor Jay Nixon requested federal aid. The declaration also allows for coordination work by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in disaster relief.
Nixon described the scale of the disaster as "other-worldly" as he visited hard-hit counties in eastern Missouri on Saturday. Meanwhile, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner continued his tour in flood areas on Sunday
Emergency officials of several hard-hit counties, although optimistic about the prevention of further loss of lives, fear that ensuing health risks such as hypothermia will affect residents.
The unprecedented inundation has also impacted rail transportation and oil production in the region.
The Amtrack passenger train service connecting St. Louis, Louisiana, and Kansas City had been halted for four days until Sunday due to high water levels reaching the tracks at some locations.
Meanwhile, an Exxon Mobil Corp's refinery terminal in Memphis, Tennessee, with a daily production capacity of 340,000 barrels remained closed.
