Topic: Cairo (Illinois)
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Five of the costliest US river floods
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Mississippi flooding
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In Pictures: Mississippi River floods
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Along the Mississippi, river views trump flood protection
Mississippi floods don't have the impact today that they had during the Great Flood of 1993, thanks to better flood walls and levees and thousands of flood-plain homes converted to green space. But in some river towns, flood protection is a non-starter.
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How hot was 2012? Hottest on record in US, by a long shot (+video)
Global warming 'has had a role' in making 2012 the hottest ever recorded in the lower 48 states, says a US climatologist. The average temperature was 54.3 degrees F., a full degree higher than the previous annual record.
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Drought's winter toll: Mississippi barges face losses while US blasts river (+video)
Traffic along 180 miles of the drought-stricken Mississippi will be curtailed for a month, at a cost of billions to the barging industry, to allow the US to blast rock formations and raise river levels.
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Twice as many mega rainstorms in Midwest in past 50 years
Wisconsin saw the biggest rise (203 percent) in extreme rainstorms – 3 inches of rain or more in a day, new study says. Climate change is behind more Midwest flooding, say scientists.
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Five of the costliest US river floods
The 2011 Mississippi River flood, which has broken records in some places, is creating steady destruction in America's midsection. Hurricanes tend to cause more financial damage, and flash floods typically take more lives. But overflowing rivers deliver a long, slow economic punch. Arkansas farmers have lost an estimated $500 million in crops to this year's flood. Mississippi homes and catfish farms – a leading industry – are threatened. In Louisiana, the diversion of water through a spillway to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans still puts hundreds of homes, businesses, and chemical plants and oil refineries at risk. Total damages could run into the billions. Here's a look at five of the most expensive river floods in the US, according to estimates from the National Weather Service and historical accounts (reported in 2011 dollars):
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day: Mississippi flooding
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Monsoon in the Midwest: Records fall as Mississippi floodwaters rise
In broad areas of the Midwest, April rainfall was four times normal. Now floodwaters are flowing down the Mississippi, inundating farms and threatening to break records more than 70 years old.
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In Pictures: Mississippi River floods
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Mississippi River flooding: After levee blast, threat shifts to Memphis
Late Monday, the US Army Corps of Engineers blasted a two-mile hole in a Mississippi River levee to relieve water pressure that was endangering Cairo, Ill. But problems remain downriver.
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Record-breaking floods force engineers to blow up Mississippi River levee
On Monday evening, the Army Corps of Engineers will flood farms in southern Missouri to save river towns, after a legal challenge by the Missouri attorney general failed Sunday.
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Midwest flooding: What's at stake in plan to blast open Missouri levee
A judge on Friday gave the go-ahead to the US Army Corps of Engineers to blow an opening into a Missouri levee. Advocates say it's the best way to prevent worse flooding downriver, but residents could be affected.
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Missouri's Black River levee fails. Where floodwaters could hit next.
Residents along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers brace for a pair of crests that could bring record floods. In Missouri, 1,000 flee the overflowing Black River after 15 inches of rain in four days.
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Vilonia, Ark., Poplar Bluff, Mo. hammered by spring storms
Vilonia, Arkansas and Poplar Bluff, Missouri have endured a deadly tornado and extensive flooding in the past 24 hours. The twister cut a wide swath of damage in Vilonia.
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