Flood risk remains high

HAMBURG, Iowa – Construction crews on Wednesday put the final touches on a makeshift levee standing between a small Iowa town and the creeping advance of Missouri River floodwater, as communities downstream took advantage of a temporary dip in water levels to bolster their own strained defenses.

Water that breached the primary river levee just south of the Missouri-Iowa border on Monday had advanced to within 500 yards of the temporary floodwall guarding Hamburg, 5 miles to the northeast, and was expected to reach the structure today, said Robert Michaels, the Army Corps of Engineers official who has overseen construction of the new levee.

Any hopes the breaches might alleviate the long-term flooding threat for communities downstream were short-lived, as river levels that dipped slightly from the release of pressure began rising Wednesday.

The river has been rising for weeks as the corps releases increasing amounts of water from its upstream dams to clear out heavy spring rain and snowmelt.

Parts of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota already have been flooded, and towns and cities farther south were still bracing for the worst.