Arkansas farming industry calculate high millions in lost crops

Residents and farmers from the eastern part of Arkansas are getting their first looks at the destroyed homes and ruined farmland that have resulted from the massive flooding in that region.  Many parts of the state rely primarily on agriculture as their main industry.  According to the Arkansas Farm Bureau, an estimated $500 million has been lost in crops due to farm flooding, with an estimated millions more having been lost as a result of other damage such as to equipment.   The Farm Bureau also stated that agriculture typically brings…

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Missouri insurance rates expected to go up

The past month has been trying for residents of Missouri. Storms late in April sent the Mississippi River on a rampage. Miles of farmland were inundated with water, causing billions in damage and displacing the state’s farmers. Those same storms were accompanied by an outbreak of tornados that tore through much of the region. The now infamous Joplin tornado – the most deadly and destructive tornado in six decades – that sundered a town and left hundreds without homes was the last of the environmental onslaught. Together, these disasters will…

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Update on Mississippi River Flood

As of Sunday, the Army Corps of Engineers had opened nine of the 125 bays in the Morganza spillway. The nine bays that were opened in the spillway are diverting around 90 thousand cubic feet of water per second. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was urging citizens in the Morganza area to start preparing for the inevitable evacuation. On Friday, the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t have an exact time when they would be opening the spillway; yet most knew the choice was unavoidable. Citizens in the Morganza area had been…

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Farmers fear that man-made flooding will not be covered

Early last week, the U.S. Corps of Engineers breached a levee containing the swelling Mississippi River in an effort to mitigate damages from impending flooding. The action attracted the ire of local farmers, many of whom argued that their insurance would not cover the so called man-made disaster. The waters of the Mississippi continue to rise despite the breached levee, leading the Corps of Engineers to open the Morganza Spillway to mitigate the happening. The plan leads the Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner, Mike Strain, to pressure the U.S. Department…

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The army in a battle against the Mississippi river

The Mississippi River is wreaking havoc on the people of Louisiana as previous estimates of flooding levels have been reassessed and raised due to additional rainfall. Despite previous measures taken by the Army Corps of Engineers, many areas are expecting record flood levels.   The Governor of Louisiana met with the Unified Command Group, which is made up of business and city officials and key participants from the health and transportation sectors. After the revision of the flood estimates the group decided to begin a series of new preparedness actions.…

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