The Mississippi River and tributaries continue to rise, reaching record crests, and the worst may still be to come. Portions of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas are under water, with more to come. Pressure on levees led the Army Corps of Engineers to blow up a section below Cairo, Ill, inundating 130,000 acres of farmland while saving the town. As a bulge of river water makes its way downstream, levees are stressed and rivers that empty into the Mississippi have no outlet, backing up and flooding even more land. The bulge will reach the Delta later this month, and millions of acres are threatened.
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See my other posting: Flood waters near record levels in Memphis TN (Video footage / pictures) - click here to view
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Floodwater engulfs a home after engineers blew a hole in a levee to divert water from the town of Cairo, Ill. May 3 near Wyatt, Mo. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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The Quad Cities River Bandits and the Peoria Chiefs play a baseball game April 20 inside Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa. The rising flood waters of the Mississippi River surround the stadium which is protected by a flood wall. (Paul Colletti/The Dispatch/AP)
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Floodwaters from the Mississippi River on May 3 swamp the area north of New Madrid, Mo. (Jeff Roberson/AP)
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Water flows through an intentional breech in the Birds Point levee May 3 in Mississippi County, Mo. after engineers blew the levee up in an effort to protect nearby Cairo, Ill. from rising floodwaters. (Jeff Roberson/AP)
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Roy Presson embraces his daughters Catherine (left) and Amanda as they stand on the edge of State Highway HH looking out at their family farm on May 3 in Wyatt, Mo. The Presson home and 2,400 acres of land that they farmed was flooded when engineers blew a hole in a levee to save the town of Cairo, Ill. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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With Green River floodwater over his calves, Daniel Davis stands in the kitchen with personal belongings on sawhorses May 3 in Livermore, Ky. (John Dunham/Messenger-Inquirer/AP)
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Workers use a boat to recover supplies from a flooded grain elevator May 4 in Caruthersville, Mo. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Houses are surrounded by floodwater May 3 in Pinhook, Mo. (Jeff Roberson/AP)
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Linley Dennis plays in a boat while her parents and grandfather work the motor in their flooded front yard in Big Boy Junction May 6 near Finley, Tenn. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Property owners and hired workers erect temporary flood walls along the Mississippi River in Natchez, Miss. May 7. (Gerald Herbert/AP)
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Lesli Lambert (left) and Tammi St. John row through their neighborhood as floodwaters slowly rise in Finley, Mo. May 7. (Eric Thayer/Reuters)
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Residents look at houses being engulfed by floodwater May 8 in Memphis. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Cyril Forck, 90, catches a small perch fish from his backyard deck, which is usually 50 feet away from the edge of the Mississippi River, on Mud Island in Memphis, Tenn. May 4. (Lance Murphey/AP)
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See my other posting: Flood waters near record levels in Memphis TN (Video footage / pictures) - click here to view
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