
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993                   TAG: 9307170245
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CRISIS GETTING WORSE

Flooding spread to a new part of the Midwest on Friday as heavy rains sent a river through Fargo, N.D., where 75,000 people were told not to bathe or flush toilets because the city's sewage system was swamped.

Miles to the south, the Mississippi and Missouri rivers washed together 20 miles upstream from their normal junction after a levee broke on a thin peninsula north of St. Louis. Military trucks rescued some residents who had defied evacuation orders.

The surging Mississippi River also charged through a levee Friday night at West Quincy, Mo., closing the only bridge across the river to Illinois for more than 200 miles.

The break about a half mile upstream of the Bayview Bridge apparently triggered an explosion at a gas station, said Fire Chief Roy Hark.

The levee was the third to give way Friday along the rain-swollen Mississippi or Missouri rivers, which have surged out of their banks for weeks, flooding towns and farmland throughout the Midwest.

Another levee break on the Missouri forced evacuations in the small Missouri towns of Treloar, Marthasville and Dutzow.

Months of above-average rainfall led to flooding that began around early June in Minnesota and Wisconsin and has been blamed for 26 deaths and at least $5 billion in damage throughout the Midwest.

The latest death came Friday, when an Iowa National Guardsman in Des Moines was electrocuted when an antenna he was putting up fell over and touched a high-voltage line, said Lt. Col. Robert King, a Guard spokesman. The antenna was for communications with water trucks.

There was no sign the rain was letting up. On Friday, thunderstorms battered parts of North Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Locally heavy downpours were forecast.

President Clinton planned a "flood summit" for today in St. Louis with nine states' governors or their representatives. Clinton has viewed damage in Iowa twice in two weeks, and has asked Congress for at least $2.5 billion in federal aid. He said that amount likely would increase.

In some places, the water paradox - too much on the ground, not enough to use - worsened Friday. In others, it got better.

Officials in Des Moines, Iowa, said many of the 250,000 people in their sixth day without running water wouldn't get it back before the middle or end of next week, as service is restored in stages. Earlier estimates were that all running water would be restored Monday, though it may not be drinkable for a month.

by CNB