(CNN) — A powerful spring cold snap brings more rain and snow to a soggy U.S. heartland Wednesday, putting more pressure on riverside communities from the upper Midwest to the Deep South.
The residents of Grafton, Illinois, north of St. Louis, will see the worst of the floodwaters through Friday as the Mississippi River peaks at more than 11 feet above flood stage, the National Weather Service says.
Many along the river’s edge decided to evacuate.
But Jerry Eller thought he would wait it out.
“I’ve got water coming up through cracks in the floor, so I have about 3,000 gallons an hour of pumps running down the basement keeping water out, and that seems to be keeping it down to about an inch,” Eller told CNN affiliate KPLR.
Floodwaters have ravaged dozens of counties in Illinois, forcing thousands of residents from their homes.
Widespread flooding
As rivers across the heartland swelled during the past two weeks, rising water was blamed for four deaths. Flooding threatens rivers in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi and Michigan, according to the National Weather Service.
Along the Mississippi River, flood watches stretch as far south as Louisiana. Although flooding is expected all along the river, experts don’t expect the catastrophic levels of two years ago, when levees were breached. The flooding was so grave in 2011 that authorities purposely flooded thousands of square miles of Louisiana to spare city centers.
CNN has the full article
