Workers battle vs. cresting Mississippi Officials don't expect large-scale flooding woes

Praying that rain wouldn't raise precarious river levels, workersalong the Illinois side of the Mississippi River filled and placedeven more sandbags in preparation for crests above 20 feet.

"I'm praying real hard," said Christi Rutledge, a volunteerfirefighter in Niota, a tiny town where the river is expected tocrest Wednesday. "We have die-hard workers."

The river peaked at 2 a.m. today in Bellevue at 22.6 feet. Latethis morning the river was at 22.53 feet, according to Terry Simmons,meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities.Flood stage is 17 feet.

The Mississippi was expected to crest farther south at Clinton,Iowa, today at 23.2 feet.

At Bellevue and Clinton, the Mississippi will remain near crestlevel for about 36 hours, Simmons said.

Officials at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency inSpringfield don't foresee any large-scale flooding problems or leveebreaks, said spokeswoman Chris Tamminga. Even with the river aboveflood stage, sandbags and flood walls stop towns from gettingswamped.

"It's still business as usual," Tamminga said. "The waters arehigh, and everyone is concerned about it, but there are no citiesmore important (to help) than another."

The river peaked at East Dubuque, Ill., on Sunday at 23.7 feet and25.4 in southern East Dubuque.

This morning the river was still at crest level but was expectedto begin receding, Tamminga said.

"Our big concern is still the rain," East Dubuque Mayor GeoffBarklow said Sunday. "It's been nothing heavy, and if it stays thatway we can handle it. But we could have issues if we get heavy rain."

Communities downriver continued to brace for possible flooding byshoring up defenses.

"We had the National Guard walking the levee all night to see ifthere were any soft spots in it," said Eugene Flack, mayor ofSavanna, where less than a half-dozen homes were flooded as ofSunday.

In Niota, workers are still trying to build up the 21-foot leveesholding back floodwaters. The river was supposed to crest thereWednesday between 20.5 and 21.5 feet. This morning, the river alreadyhad reached 20.5 feet.

"With it already at 20.5 and two more days to go, I don't knowwhere we're going to go," Rutledge said. "We're going minute byminute."

Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was optimistic that thelevees, sandbags and pumps in use along the river could handle thefloodwaters.

The only problem with the levees were boils-spots where waterbubbles between the bottom sandbags and the ground, said JustineBarati, spokeswoman for the corps' Rock Island office.

"If a boil is left unattended, then water from the river can beleaking onto the land side," said Barati, who added that boils can beeasily fixed by surrounding them with sandbags.

The corps has distributed more than 1.1 million sandbags.