| Surging water is moving down the Mississippi river | | | | destroying crops of corn, wheat and soybeans that |
| devastating towns and farmland along the way. The | | | | had been planted in recent weeks. This is the heart of |
| river has topped close to a dozen levees flooding | | | | the U.S. grain-producing region and the losses in the |
| towns in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri and residents farther | | | | flood zone will surely cause higher food prices |
| downstream are bracing for the surge as it heads their | | | | worldwide.Corn hit a record price of $8 a bushel earlier |
| way. VOA's Greg Flakus has more from Council | | | | this week and some analysts believe it will move |
| Bluffs, Iowa.Doug Smith and Debbie Hall put a | | | | higher once the full extent of the damage to farmland |
| protective cover over the sandbag levee being built | | | | is known. Losses in Iowa alone are estimated at $2.7 |
| around the town of in Hamburg, Illinois, 20 June | | | | billion. For farmers in the northern part of the flood |
| 2008Residents are returning to their homes in some | | | | zone it may be too late to replant since there are not |
| parts of Iowa and farmers are trying to determine if | | | | enough days left in the growing season to bring a crop |
| they can salvage fields that were flooded soon after | | | | to harvest. But even many farmers who would like to |
| being planted. President Bush toured the disaster area | | | | replant there is pessimism. Many of them say the |
| Friday as did presidential candidates, Senator John | | | | ground is too soggy for them to enter the fields with |
| McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate, and | | | | tractors and other equipment.But even after fields are |
| Senator Barack Obama, the likely Democratic | | | | totally drained farmers will face the problem of silt and |
| candidate.But even as citizens began the clean up | | | | contaminated material that washed over their land with |
| process in Iowa, assisted by the National Guard and | | | | the floodwaters. It may take years for some areas to |
| relief agencies, people farther downstream were | | | | recover completely.The floods have also disrupted |
| fleeing the raging water. In Foley, Missouri, John | | | | other economic activity in the area. Tourism has fallen |
| Watson spoke to reporters from the roof of his | | | | even in areas unaffected by flooding because people |
| home."There is nothing you can do, just sit there and | | | | are avoiding travel to the Mississippi river area in |
| watch it come at you. Get everything out you can," he | | | | general. Barge traffic on the Mississippi has been |
| said.But the people whose homes have been flooded | | | | slowed as well. Officials say this year's floods will likely |
| are not the only ones likely to feel pain from this | | | | surpass the devastation of the 1993 floods in the |
| disaster. A lot of valuable farmland has been flooded | | | | region, which resulted in losses of over $20 billion. |