The AP's Cheryl Wittenauer and Jim Suhr report from Keithsburg, IL:
180 miles upriver, the mayor of Keithsburg, Ill., is already talking about moving most of the 700 residents to higher ground after a third of the community, including downtown, was swamped.
They've done it before. During the Great Flood of '93, record floodwaters broke through the sandbag barrier atop Keithsburg's levee before breaching the earthen berm itself, sending water rampaging into homes and businesses. The federal government later snapped up roughly 100 homes, and moved many residents into new houses on a hill.
That wasn't enough to save Keithsburg during this summer's flood. The town cleared out the night before three levees broke, sending floodwaters cascading in again as the Mississippi crested a few feet above the height of the flood barriers. The town's Tastee-Freez, a coin laundry, bait shop, restaurant, post office and a couple of taverns were soon under as much as 8 feet of water.
"A lot of people (in 1993) said, 'Aw, it's not going to happen here' and left their things in their homes," said Chuck Reynolds, pastor of the town's First Christian Church. "This year, people were saying, 'Yeah, it might happen,' and rolled up their carpet and furniture. They moved out."
Reynolds said there are already rumblings among some in Keithsburg that they might not move back. But even after people lost their homes twice in 15 years, he said, Reynolds is preaching patience: Wait and see what unfolds once the waters fall back.
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