By Nick Carey
QUINCY, Illinois (Reuters) - Hundreds of volunteers on thesurging Mississippi River piled sandbags atop strained leveeson Tuesday as the worst Midwest flooding in 15 years delivereda blow to the U.S. economy and world food prices.
A levee broke in Gulfport, Illinois, sending muddy watersfrom the most important U.S. waterway cascading into nearbyfarmland and a few homes. No one was injured but authoritiesclosed the bridge across the river to Burlington, Iowa.
Corn and soybean prices stayed near record levels asmillions of acres of cropland have been lost or damaged in theworld's largest grain exporter. Meat prices also soared, inline with the costs for feeding cattle, hogs and chickens.
"We've faced some pressure this year, but there could begreater pressure next year on food inflation when proteinprices start to increase," said Bill Lapp, a food industryconsultant and former chief economist at Conagra Inc.
U.S. President George W. Bush promised aid to the strickenregion, where billions of dollars in farm and business lossesin the heart of the U.S. grain belt looked set to increaseinflation pressures on prices for food, fuel and other goods.
"I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters aspresident," Bush said after a briefing on the flooding.
But Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, said littlehad been done to prevent flooding and Bush had learned nothingfrom Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.
"President Bush has asserted that investing in America'sneeds is somehow 'wasteful' and his budget, which does not addone thin dime for a boost in levee funding, reflects thissentiment" Byrd said.
In Quincy, most of which sits on a bluff overlooking theriver, officials organized a major effort to gird against whatwas expected to be a record crest later this week. Across theriver in 1993, a sabotaged levee triggered massive flooding.
"We have quite a wall of water coming our way," Mayor JohnSpring said. "Flooding is all part of life along the river ...but this time we are better prepared for it."
Roger Sutter, who was in charge of sandbagging and leveebuilding, said the sandbags and levee work done should providearound a foot and a half (half a metre) of protection above thelevel the river is predicted to crest.
Hundreds of National Guard troops, prison inmates andvolunteers participated in the sandbagging efforts that havebeen repeated across the Midwest -- often without success.
"What we have to do now is keep an eye on it and make surewe don't have any breaches," Sutter added.
FINANCIAL LOSSES MOUNT, COMMERCE DISRUPTED
Comparisons have been made to the major 1993 flooding thatcaused more than $20 billion (10 billion) in damage and 48deaths in the Midwest. This month's flooding has caused fewdeaths, with Iowa hardest hit. But the damage has yet to betoted up.
Corn prices at the Chicago Board of Trade soared above $8 abushel for the first time on Monday and stayed near there onTuesday in fears Midwest farmers will not be able to growanything on as many as 5 million acres (2 million hectares).
"It's the uncertainty. We don't know how many acres wehave, we don't know what the yields are going to be on theacres," said Roy Huckabay, grain analyst with The Linn Group.
The closing of the mid-Mississippi River to barge trafficis costing carriers $1 million or more per day.
"In 1993, there were months of delays," said Larry Daily,president of Alter Barge Line Inc in Bettendorf, Iowa. "Thistime, it's going to be shut down two weeks if we don't get anymore rain -- longer if it rains again."
The Mississippi River is the main channel for grain flowingfrom Midwest farms to export terminals at the Gulf of Mexico.It shipped 68 million tonnes of farm goods in 2006.
The problems add up to more food inflation for not justU.S. consumers, but also dozens of countries that buy U.S.grain. The United States exports 54 percent of the world'scorn, 36 percent of soybeans and 23 percent of wheat.
Fortunately for residents, the weather was cooperating,with only a slight chance for thunderstorms in southeast Iowaon Wednesday and few scattered showers forecast through theweekend for most flooded areas of the Midwest.
Thousands of residents of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were barredfrom their flooded homes even as the waters receded there withthe drier weather. Officials warned of dangers from sinkholes,unstable foundations, missing manhole covers and hazardouswaste from the flood waters.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Shumaker, Peter Bohan andChristine Stebbins in Chicago, and David Alexander inWashington; writing by Andrew Stern; editing by MohammadZargham)
