"FORT PIERRE, S.D. -- A summer of record flooding along the Missouri River is leaving a band of destruction—broken roads, drowned farmland and condemned houses—through the nation's midsection."
"The country's longest river is still flooded near Kansas City, but upstream it has receded into its banks as the Army Corps of Engineers slows its releases of water from six giant reservoirs. Those lakes had filled to capacity in May and then discharged their water at more than twice the record rate from mid-June into September.
In recent weeks, thousands of people in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Iowa have re-entered their waterlogged homes after months of evacuation. The lucky ones are able to move back, while others are simply evaluating the destruction and planning the recovery that lies ahead. So far, the federal government has no estimate for the cost of the flood's overall damage."
Jack Nicas reports for the Wall St. Journal October 3, 2011.
