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NATION/WORLD Tuesday, March 19, 2019 East Oregonian A7 Homes inundated as Missouri River floods Rivers breach a dozen levees after heavy rain and snowmelt By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hundreds of homes flooded in several Midwestern states after rivers breached at least a dozen levees following heavy rain and snowmelt in the region, authorities said Monday while warning that the flooding was expected to linger. About 200 miles of levees were compromised — either breached or overtopped — in four states, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. Even in places where the water level peaked in those states — Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas — the current was fast and the water so high that damage continued to pile up. The flooding was blamed for at least three deaths. “The levees are busted and we aren’t even into the wet season when the rivers run high,” said Tom Bull- ock, the emergency man- agement director for Mis- souri’s Holt County. He said many homes in Omaha World-Herald via AP/Kent Sievers Anthony Thomson, left, and Melody Walton make their way out of a flooded neighborhood Sunday in Fremont, Neb. a mostly rural area of Holt County were inundated with 6 to 7 feet of water from the swollen Missouri River. He noted that local farmers are only a month away from planting corn and soybeans. “The water isn’t going to be gone, and the levees aren’t going to be fixed this year,” said Bullock, whose own home was now on an island surrounded by floodwater. One couple was res- cued by helicopter after water from three breached levees swept across 40,000 acres, he said. Another nine breaches were confirmed in Nebraska and Iowa counties south of the Platte River, the Corps said. In Atchison County, Mis- souri, about 130 people were urged to leave their homes as water levels rose and strained levees, three of which had More than 1,000 people feared dead after Mozambique cyclone By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOH A N N ESBU RG — More than 1,000 peo- ple were feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the country, submerging entire villages and leaving bodies floating in the floodwaters, the nation’s president said. “It is a real disaster of great proportions,” Presi- dent Filipe Nyusi said. Cyclone Idai could prove to be the deadliest storm in generations to hit the impoverished southeast African country of 30 mil- lion people. It struck Beira, an Indian Ocean port city of a half-mil- lion people, late Thursday and then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi with strong winds and heavy rain. But it took days for the scope of the disaster to come into focus in Mozambique, which has a poor commu- nication and transportation network and a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy. Speaking on state Radio Mozambique, Nyusi said that while the official death toll stood at 84, “It appears that we can register more than 1,000 deaths.” Emergency officials cau- tioned that while they expect the death toll to rise signifi- cantly, they have no way of knowing if it will reach the president’s estimate. More than 215 people were killed by the storm in the three countries, includ- ing more than 80 in Zimba- bwe’s eastern Chimanimani region and more than 50 in Malawi, according to offi- cial figures. Hundreds more were reported injured and missing, and nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed in eastern Zimbabwe alone. Doctors Without Borders said rivers have broken their banks leaving many houses submerged and 11,000 households displaced in Nsanje, in southern Malawi. U.N. agencies and the Red Cross helped rush emergency food and med- icine by helicopter to the stricken countries. Mount Chiluvo in cen- tral Mozambique was badly hit by flooding. One resident said he heard a loud noise, like an explosion, and sud- denly saw a river of mud rolling toward his home. “I was indoors with my children, but when we looked we saw mud coming down the road towards the houses and we fled,” Fran- cisco Carlitos told Lusa, the Portuguese News Agency. The family lost their home and possessions but safely reached higher ground. The country’s presi- dent, who cut short a visit to neighboring Swaziland over the weekend because of the disaster, spoke after flying by helicopter over Beira and two rural provinces, where he reported widespread devastation. “The waters of the Pun- gue and Buzi rivers over- flowed, making whole vil- lages disappear and isolating communities, and bodies are floating,” Nyusi said. The Red Cross said 90 percent of Beira was dam- aged or destroyed. The cyclone knocked out elec- tricity, shut down the airport and cut off access to the city by road. already been overtopped by water. Missouri State Highway Patrol crews were on standby to rescue any- one who insisted on staying despite the danger. “The next four to five days are going to be pretty rough,” said Rhonda Wiley, Atchison County’s emer- gency management and 911 director. The Missouri River already crested upstream of Omaha, Nebraska, though hundreds of peo- ple remained out of their homes and water contin- ued to pour through busted levees. Flooding was so bad around Fremont, Nebraska, that just one lane of U.S. 30 was uncovered outside the city of 26,000. State law enforcement limited traf- fic on that road to pre-ap- proved trucks carrying gas, food, water and other essen- tial supplies. “There are no easy fixes to any of this,” said Fre- mont City Administrator Brian Newton. “We need Mother Nature to decrease the height of the river.” In southwest Iowa, the Missouri River reached a level in Fremont County that was 2 feet above a record set in 2011. The county’s emer- gency management direc- tor, Mike Crecelius, said Monday that more water was flooding into low-lying parts of Hamburg, where a wall of sand-filled barri- ers was breached when one failed. President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that he is staying in close contact with Iowa Gov. Kim Reyn- olds and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem about the flooding. Reynolds, touring flood-ravaged areas of the state for the second straight day, warned that flooding will worsen along the Mis- sissippi River as snow melts to the north. The National Weather Service said the river was expected to crest Thursday in St. Joseph, Missouri, at its third-highest level on record. Military C-130 planes were evacuated last week from nearby Rosecrans Air National Guard base. In North Dakota, Fargo was preparing for poten- tially major flooding along the Red River — the same river that ravaged the city a decade ago. Mayor Tim Mahoney declared an emer- gency and asked residents to help fill 1 million sandbags in response to a weather ser- vice warning that snowmelt poses a big risk in Fargo. Sandbag-filling operations start March 26. In Illinois, weather ser- vice readings showed major flooding along the Peca- tonica River at Shirland and Freeport, and the Rock River in the Rockford area and Moline. Freeport City Manager Lowell Crow said officials there expected the Pecatonica River “to possi- bly rise to a record level or at least to a level we haven’t seen in 50 years.” Democrats say they’ve raised millions Associated Press WASHINGTON — Washington Gov. Jay Ins- lee boasts he raised over $1 million in the days after launching his White House bid. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and others say they did, too. Impressive numbers, even if dwarfed by the $6 million or so reported by Bernie Sanders and now Beto O’Rourke. The seven-digit fig- ures for the lesser-known Democratic hopefuls don’t lie, but they don’t tell the whole story either. Early bursts of donations don’t happen by accident, espe- cially for candidates with little national name rec- ognition such as Inslee, who hit his target thanks in part to an email list of donors he’s cultivated for months. He’s among a crowded field of more than a dozen Democrats who are try- ing to show they can raise big money and realisti- cally challenge Republican President Donald Trump. With the first-quarter fund- raising deadline looming, some are straining credu- lity to give the impression of a spontaneous ground- swell of support. In addition to Inslee and Hickenlooper, Min- nesota Sen. Amy Klo- buchar and California Sen. Kamala Harris have boasted they raised $1 mil- lion or more in the hours and days after launching their campaigns. STATE CHAMPS! Pick up your commemorative copy of the Tuesday, March 5th East Oregonian celebrating the Heppner Girls’ 2A and the Nixyaawii Boys’ 1A State Basketball Championships. These COLLECTIBLE ORIGINAL EDITIONS are just 1 $ 50 each at the EO offi ce, 211 SE Byers Ave. in Pendleton, while supplies last.