Floods swamp Missouri, Illinois; 9 mn in risk areas

Towns in Tennessee and southern Illinois prepared on Thursday to cope with potential flooding after rain-swollen rivers washed out hundreds of structures in Missouri, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma and forced thousands to flee their homes.

As of Thursday morning, some 9.3 million people nationwide were in areas with flood warnings. That was down from 12.1 million on Wednesday and 17.7 million on Tuesday. At least 28 people have died in the US Midwest since the weekend in the rare winter floods, mostly from driving into flooded areas after storms dropped up to 12 inches (30 cm) of rain, officials said. Flooding in the Midwest usually comes in the spring as snowmelt swells rivers.

While floodwaters from a number of rivers began to recede on Thursday around St Louis, towns farther down the Mississippi hoped their levees would resist rising river levels. Southern states like Louisiana will be affected in coming days, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The days of downpours have pushed the Mississippi and its tributaries to record highs or levels not seen in decades, the NWS and local officials said. Workers in Tennessee were preparing on Thursday for the Mississippi River in Memphis to reach flood stage over the weekend. "We're moving things up high and we've got our generators out and got some extra water," said Dotty Kirkendoll, a clerk at Riverside Park Marina on McKellar Lake, which feeds off the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi, the second-longest river in the United States, is expected to crest in the small town of Thebes, in southern Illinois, at 47.5 feet (14 meters) on Sunday, more than 1-1/2 feet above the 1995 record, the NWS said. Thebes village worker Bobby White said some sewage pumps were shut down to avoid overloading and that portable toilets had been supplied to affected areas.

Most homes in the town, including his own, are on a hill and should be fine, he said. "Most of the people at the bottom of the hill moved out years ago," said.

The floodwaters have closed sections of major trucking routes Interstate 44 and Interstate 55, with the latter expected to partially reopen on Thursday evening, the Missouri Department of Transportation said.

The US Coast Guard issued a high water safety advisory on Thursday for more than 560 miles (900 km) of the Lower Mississippi River from Caruthersville, Missouri, to near Natchez, Mississippi. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency to prepare for flooding.