While floodwaters remain steady in some areas and recede in others, some regions are bracing for “major to historic and catastrophic” flooding to come as rivers vault toward their crests this week, fed by rapid snowmelt throughout the Missouri and Mississippi River basins, the National Weather Service said.

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And even where floodwaters recede, danger lurks from fast-moving water ripping across the region.

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Nebraska was struck particularly hard; three of the four fatalities occurred in the state. Two-thirds of its 94 counties and four tribal areas declared states of emergency.

It was “the most extensive damage our state has ever experienced,” Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) said Monday.

Farmers and ranchers are expecting at least $800 million in losses of livestock and crops, and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services warned that dirty floodwaters may have contaminated private wells.

Some farmers were marshaled to use heavy equipment for recovery and rescue efforts, with at least one tragic outcome.

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James Wilke, a farmer in Platte County, sped his tractor to a person trapped in a car while under the guidance of emergency crews in Columbus. The bridge collapsed.

“James and the tractor went down into the floodwater below,” family friend Jodi L. Hefti wrote on Facebook.

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Betty Hamernik, 80, also of Platte County, died after she was trapped in her home by rising floodwater. Aleido Rojas Galan died of his injuries in Lincoln after being rescued in Iowa, and another man was killed by raging waters that overtook a dam in Spencer, CNN reported.

“It just looked like the end of the world coming,” Niobrara, Neb., Mayor Jody Stark told the Omaha World-Herald.

A third of Offutt Air Force was underwater at one point as airmen raced around the clock to fill sandbags at the installation south of Omaha, where the military oversees nuclear deterrence and global strike capabilities. More than 3,000 feet of runway was submerged.

Airmen abandoned their efforts after the floodwater thrashed buildings and hangars at the home of U.S. Strategic Command.

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“It was a lost cause. We gave up,” said Tech. Sgt. Rachelle Blake, a 55th Wing spokeswoman, the World-Herald reported. No aircraft were damaged, and the command said it would ensure their mission would continue uninterrupted, though operations were limited to essential personnel through Monday.

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In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) observed the swollen Missouri River by aircraft. “It was heart-wrenching to see the breadth of the flood,” she said Monday.

The small town of Hamburg was mostly “lost” after floods swallowed two-thirds of the town, she told reporters. Nearly half of the 99 counties in Iowa declared a state of emergency, she said.

About 200 miles of levees were compromised across Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, USA Today reported, citing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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“The levees are busted and we aren’t even into the wet season when the rivers run high,” Tom Bullock, the emergency management director for Missouri’s Holt County, told the paper.

Scenes from the Midwest’s devastating flooding share Share View Photos View Photos Next Image March 23, 2019 | Floodwaters surround corn sitting under a collapsed grain bin outside Council Bluffs, Iowa. The deluge that has devastated so much of the Midwest over the last week could be a preview for one of the worst years for flooding in the U.S., according to federal weather officials. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)

A “bomb cyclone” — a hurricane-like winter storm — battered the region with strong winds and heavy rainfall. The resulting flooding was particularly intense, because the heavy rain fell on snow that had not melted yet, said Brian Barjenbruch, the science and operations officer for the Weather Service in Omaha.

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Barjenbruch said the results have been incredibly damaging in parts of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

“It is some of the worst flooding that we’ve seen in many years,” Barjenbruch said of those areas. “In some locations, it’s the worst flooding on record on many of these river gauges.”

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Recovery efforts will soon begin in areas where floodwaters recede and reveal the extent of devastation across the region, though it is unclear when that may occur. The 2011 floodwaters that washed away parts of Plattsmouth, Neb., did not retreat for 3 ½ months.

Mark Berman and Reis Thebault contributed to this report.