KANSAS CITY (AP) — The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):
Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Nebraska to survey damage from flooding in the Midwest.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that President Donald Trump requested Pence go Tuesday to the Midwest to see the damage.
Troopers are assisting Fremont Police Department with flooding operations. Thank you for allowing safe transport utilizing the MRAP. #NSP51 #NSP309 @NSP_TroopA_ISO pic.twitter.com/tefdz5MBT3
— NSP_TroopANightShift (@NSPTroopANights) March 18, 2019
Sanders says Pence will be joined by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The tweet did not say where in Nebraska Pence would go.
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3:30 p.m.
North Dakota’s largest city has declared an emergency and Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney is asking residents to help fill 1 million sandbags as the city prepares for major Red River flooding.
This Highway 91 at the Dodge/Washington County line. pic.twitter.com/ZFqyobYt1O
— NSP Troop A (@NSP_TroopA) March 18, 2019
The National Weather Service says “significant” snowmelt flooding is likely this spring in the Red River Valley after last week’s massive late-winter storm in the Midwest. The chance the river will reach major flood stage in Fargo has increased from 50 percent to 90 percent.
The neighboring cities of Fargo and Moorhead, Minnesota, experienced a record flood 10 years ago. The two cities have implemented several measures such as home buyouts and levees since then.
But Mahoney says there are still areas that could be vulnerable. Sandbag-filling operations begin March 26.
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3:10 p.m.
An Illinois town is bracing for potentially the worst flooding it has seen in at least a half-century.
Freeport City Manager Lowell Crow says the town of 25,000 residents west of Rockford could see an all-time record flood along the Pecatonica River. At best, the water level will get to its highest level in 50 years.
Several Illinois towns face flooding from the late-winter deluge that has ravaged several Midwestern states. National Weather Service readings show major flooding along the Pecatonica River at Shirland, Illinois, and along the Rock River in Moline and the Rockford area.
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2:45 p.m.
The late-winter flood has compromised about 200 miles of Missouri River levees in four Midwestern states.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says levees that have been topped or breached in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas contributed to the flooding that has forced hundreds of people from their homes. Three deaths have been blamed on floodwaters, and two men in Nebraska have been missing since Thursday.
The National Weather Service says river levels have topped off along the Missouri River at Omaha, Nebraska, as well as at several Missouri River tributaries in Nebraska.
High flows and water levels remain throughout the river basin south of Sioux City, Iowa.
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