By Nick Carey
PALMYRA, Missouri (Reuters) - The crest of the swollenMississippi River moved relentlessly downstream on Saturday asvolunteers manned sandbagged levees, nursed hopes and copedwith the costs of the worst U.S. Midwest flooding in 15 years.
"At times like these you don't know whether to cry orlaugh. But here in the Midwest we tend to favour the latter,"said Charlotte Hoerr, who with her husband Brent farms land notfar from the river in this small Missouri town.
The violent rush overcame more than two dozen levees thisweek, submerging small towns and vast stretches of primefarmland as the nation's most important river absorbed therunoff of torrential rains that put many Iowa towns under waterlast week. No levees were reported breached on Friday night.
The Midwest flooding and storms blamed for 24 deaths sincelate May have caused damage in the billions of dollars and areexpected to push U.S. and world food prices higher.
Up to 5 million acres (2 million hectares) may have beenlost to just-planted crops at the heart of the world's topgrain and food exporter. Prices for corn, cattle and hogs allset records this week due to the floods, as a world economyalready slammed by inflation from soaring energy pricesabsorbed the blow.
The spillage onto the Mississippi's vast flood plaincovered thousands of acres of crops. But several days of dryweather this week cut water flows, as did the levee breaches.
"It's starting to feel like the worst of the crisis haspassed," said Farm Bureau official Blake Roderick in nearbyHannibal, boyhood home of author Mark Twain.
The river in Hannibal was expected to crest on Sunday at28.7 feet (8.7 metres), below the record 31.80 feet (9.7metres) set in the 1993 flood.
"We're still concerned that levees will be overtopped,"said Ron Fournier, a spokesman for U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers. "If the sandbags don't hold, there's going to bewater in agricultural fields and residences."
EAST ST. LOUIS THREATENED
St. Louis, located 100 miles south and after the riverwidens considerably to more water, saw the river crest onFriday well below levels seen in the last major flood in 1993.
One worry was water seeping underneath levees from "sandboils," or leaks bubbling up from water pressure, across fromSt. Louis in the impoverished Illinois city of East St. Louis.
If the decades-old levees there failed, the river wouldspill onto a flood plain where 150,000 people live, saidTimothy Kusky, a flood expert at Saint Louis University.
"Careful scrutiny of the levee system will continue untilthe river level falls," the St. Louis Army Corps said.
President George W. Bush toured some of the devastation inIowa on Thursday, and the White House said relief would be madeavailable from $4 billion (2 billion pounds) in thegovernment's disaster fund.
Bridges and highways have been swamped, factories shutdown, water and power utilities damaged, and the earnings ofrailroads, farmers and myriad other businesses disrupted.
"Now we begin the process of assessing debris removal andshort-term and long-term housing needs," said Bret Vorhees ofIowa Emergency Management. He said requests had declined forsandbags, water pumps, shelter and security.
Flood relief was rapidly becoming a political issue in anelection year in the United States. Republican presidentialcandidate John McCain toured Iowa on Thursday, separately fromBush, while Democratic candidate Barack Obama helped stacksandbags earlier in the week in Quincy, Illinois.
"I've seen firsthand the growing magnitude of this floodingdisaster, and unfortunately the end is not yet in sight,"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said on Friday, saying he hadasked Bush for faster aid for 20 flooded Illinois counties.
Don Rust, a farmer from Ursa, Illinois, not far fromQuincy, estimated cropland 13 miles (21 km) long and six miles(9.7 km) wide was flooded in his area.
"It's a disaster, all right," said his wife Lisa, surveyingthe scene. "Welcome to the Midwest."
(Additional reporting by Ros Krasny, writing by PeterBohan, editing by Vicki Allen)