A levee breaks in Missouri

WINFIELD, Mo. — A makeshift sandbag levee holding back the Mississippi River failed early Saturday and authorities said part of the town was evacuated.

From the Wall Street Journal.

Winfield, 45 miles northwest of St. Louis, is in Lincoln County, which has been particularly hard hit by flooding caused by torrential rain that fell across the Midwest in early June.

County emergency operations spokesman Andy Binder said 92 homes have been destroyed, 36 others have major damage and 650 can’t be evaluated yet because they remain inaccessible.

The Mississippi is receding at Winfield and towns to the north, but remains well above flood stage. Crests will reach St. Louis on Monday and Cape Girardeau, Mo., on Wednesday.

The Missouri River, which joins the Mississippi near St. Louis, is rising because of a new round of heavy rain that fell across parts of the state on Thursday and early Friday. The National Weather Service predicts moderate flooding in parts of mid-Missouri by Monday.

Our heart obviously goes out to the affected communities. The weather in the U.S. heartland has been truly disastrous, making us aware of our helplessness in the face of nature.