Search Site   
News Stories at a Glance
Deere 4440 cab tractor racked up $18,000 at farm retirement auction
Indiana legislature passes bills for ag land purchases, broadband grants
Make spring planting safety plans early to avoid injuries
Michigan soybean grower visits Dubai to showcase U.S. products
Scientists are interested in eclipse effects on crops and livestock
U.S. retail meat demand for pork and beef both decreased in 2023
Iowa one of the few states to see farms increase in 2022 Ag Census
Trade, E15, GREET, tax credits the talk at Commodity Classic
Ohioan travels to Malta as part of US Grains Council trade mission
FFA members learn about Australian culture, agriculture during trip
Timing of Dicamba ruling may cause issues for 2024 planting
   
Archive
Search Archive  
   
Mississippi flooding rivals big one of ’93

By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

CARTHAGE, Ill. — It’s difficult to put into words the scope of damage to cropland, farming operations and homes caused by the massive floods farmers and others in northwestern Illinois have experienced in the last couple of weeks, though Hancock County Farm Bureau manager Carla Mudd tried.

“It’s a major catastrophe,” she said, referring to the tens of thousands of acres of ruined or damaged crop fields sustained by local farmers when 20 levees on the Mississippi River were breached by floodwater, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Seven counties along the river (Adams, Calhoun, Hancock, Henderson, Mercer, Pike and Rock Island) were added to a growing state disaster declaration on June 13.

By June 16, more than 400 Illinois National Guard members and some 220 local county jail inmates were deployed for sandbagging and other efforts in mostly small, rural river towns in northwestern Illinois.

Two 60-foot concrete grain bins collapsed into the Mississippi River at the Ursa Farmer’s Co-op in Warsaw (Hancock County) as a result of the flooding early June 17. Approximately half of the more than 20,000 bushels of soybeans that spilled into the river were expected to be recovered.

“A company was hired to vacuum the soybeans up,” Mudd told Farm World two days later, “and the cleanup is going good.”
A water treatment plant serving about 800 homes in Warsaw also seemed to be holding up as of last Thursday, thanks to the efforts of the National Guard and others who sandbagged the area. However, Mudd said areas to the south of Warsaw were “where all the problems (were) occurring” late last week.

“There are 30,000 acres of farmland in the Hurt Drainage District located in the Warsaw River Bottoms area, that will be completely underwater by the end of (June 19),” Mudd said. “Levees to the north and south of Meyer in Adams County were breached, and (Hancock and Adams counties’) drainage districts butt up against each other, so the breaks that occurred there are flooding us out here.”

Taking into consideration average yields for the area and current crop prices, Mudd did some quick math and came up with shocking figures regarding the potential value of crops lost in the Hurt Drainage District alone.

“Corn losses could top $25 to $30 million, while damage to soybean acres could total as much as $20 million in the drainage district.

“Those figures do not take into account crop damage in the rest of the county, where many more farmers plant on land adjacent to the Mississippi River,” she said.

Mudd had not yet heard damage estimates for homes, livestock, machinery or outbuildings in the county, though the losses will no doubt run into the millions of dollars.

Farmers in the drainage district entertain no hopes of replanting their fields in an effort to salvage any kind of harvest this season.

“This area will be flooded for quite a while,” she explained. “It will take at least two to three months for the river to go down far enough for the water to recede in the Hurt Drainage District area.”
Floodwaters could reach a depth of 30 feet in the drainage district, as the river level crested in the region late last week.

“This is still a dangerous situation,” Mudd added. “We could see even more damage if the sandbags don’t hold up or another levee breaks.”

Bracing for more damage

Across the river near Oakville, Iowa, floodwater spilled over 20,000 acres of farmland when a levee near the confluence of the Iowa and Mississippi rivers broke. One area farmer said  most of the livestock in the area was relocated; he saw pigs floating down the Mississippi.

“The pigs are swimming over to the levee to get out, but as they scramble up, they poke holes in the plastic and sandbags and create more seepage,” Jeff Hedges told news sources. “Water starts coming through again.”

Hedges also said he, like many of the area’s farmers, does not take multi-peril crop insurance. “My 100 acres underwater is roughly $100,000 worth of crops lost,” he stated.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich toured areas on the Mississippi River late last week and planned to petition the federal government for disaster aid relief. “I’ve never seen that kind of flooding before,” he told the Associated Press.

As of Friday, the Corps of Engineers, National Guard and community volunteers were bracing for the possibility of up to 30 more levees between Burlington, Iowa, and St. Louis, Mo., being breached by the raging floodwaters.

The federal government had supplied more than 3 million quarts of drinking water, 150 generators, 213,000 meals, 13 million sandbags and 4,000 rolls of plastic sheeting for rescue and recovery efforts as of June 18. More than 28,000 people in the Midwest had registered for FEMA assistance as of June 19, with only about 9 percent holding flood insurance.

Other northwestern Illinois counties affected by the flood included JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Rock Island, Mercer, and Henderson.
Flood on par with ’93 washout?

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Midwestern Regional Climate Center at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) said last week that the heavy rain and flooding in northwestern Illinois is comparable to the flood of 1993.

“In many locations, precipitation has accumulated faster than during the same time period in 1993,” said Mike Palecki, regional climatologist with the center.

Waterloo, Iowa, in the core region of the ’93 flood, experienced a faster accumulation of precipitation this year than 15 years ago, explaining the earlier timing of flooding evident in Iowa this year, according to the ISWS. Crop damage in 1993 was largely confined to July and August as heavy rains continued across the region.

“We will continue to monitor this situation as it unfolds,” said Steve Hillberg of the ISWS.

Jim Angel, Illinois state climatologist, said late last week that many areas along the Mississippi in northwestern Illinois had reached or set new flood stage records of up to 30 feet, but relief was on the way.

“The next four or five days (June 20-25) does not hold much potential for significant rain in Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin or Missouri, so everyone will get a breather from the rain for the next few days,” he said.

6/25/2008