Raging Mississippi triggers 'massive flood fight' in Missouri

Doug Stanglin and John Bacon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Helicopters capture devastating scenes of flooding Missouri, Gov. Jay Nixon activated the state National Guard on Tuesday as flooding has led to the deaths of 13 people in the state so far.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said his state has mounted a "massive flood fight" Wednesday as rising waters from the MIssissippi and its tributaries threaten to overpower some 19 vulnerable levees and swamp hundreds of homes in Missouri and Illinois.

Nixon, who has already activated the national guard, said the state was braced for battles on numerous fronts as river levels threaten to match or exceed records set in1993.

"We are in a massive flood flight across a wide swath of our state," Nixon said CNN on Wednesday morning. Several Missouri towns were evacuating and some had already flooded. The Mississippi, Missouri and Meramec rivers all were at or near flood stage.

The worst flooding on the Mississippi is not expected until Thursday, as rising waters hit the St. Louis area on New Year's Eve and Memphis on Jan.3. Flooding is also expected as waters pour down the such tributaries of the Mississippi as the Ohio River, in Paducah, Ky., on Jan. 1 and the Arkansas River in Little Rock, also on New Year's Day.

Nixon said emergency crews were battling to keep the water contained on some area, while preparing for rescue efforts in other areas.

"We're going to make sure the flood fights we can win, we win," he said." "But if we can't we are going to get people out."

At least 18 deaths over several days in Missouri and Illinois were blamed on flooding, mostly involving vehicles that drove onto swamped roadways, the Associated Press reported. Nixon said 13 had died in Missouri.

The governor, who traveled to Perryville, 80 miles south of St. Louis, to help coordinate government efforts to minimize flooding, said the guard would provide security in evacuated areas and direct traffic diverted by road closures.

River levels in some areas expected to match - or exceed - records set in '93. State actively working w/ locals to prepare & respond #mowx — Governor Jay Nixon (@GovJayNixon) December 29, 2015

Table Rock Dam experienced record-breaking flooding, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The agency reported 72,000 cubic feet of water per second is being released from the dam, which surpasses the previous record of 69,000 cubic feet of water, the Springfield News-Leader was reporting.

In Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., five international soldiers who were assigned there for training drowned in flood waters on Sunday and a search was expected to start soon for a fifth drowning victim, the Army Times reported. The identities of the soldiers were not immediately released pending notification of next of kin, the Times said.

The massive weather system that has devastated parts of the South and Midwest also drove ice, snow, heavy rains – and headaches – into the Upper Midwest and Northeast.

Winter weather slowed traffic to a crawl in parts of New York, New England and elsewhere. Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas were among states battling flooding from days of heavy rain.

More than 1,200 flights were canceled across the nation by 4:30 p.m. ET, according to the FlightAware tracking website. More than 240 flights were canceled in and out of Chicago's O'Hare airport. Travelers leaving from airports in Toronto, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Denver and Dallas experienced long delays. Officials at Indianapolis Airport broke out cots and snacks as hundreds of would-be passengers waited for passage on canceled or delayed flights.

"Looking on the bright side! Connect to our free WiFi on your phone, tablet, or laptop," the airport tweeted.

"It was a mess," airport spokesman Jeff Dutton told The Indianapolis Star. "Even though the weather wasn't particularly bad here, they had a lot of problems in Chicago, and that affects everywhere else."

In Milwaukee, two men died in separate incidents of trying to clean up snow around their residences. In one case, a 73-year-old man was pronounced dead after an apparent collapse while snow blowing, according to WISN. In the other incident, a 54-year-old man was pronounced dead after collapsing while shoveling, WISN reported.

In the Northeast, snow and ice were the problem. Boston, which last winter set a record with more than 9 feet of snow, has been reveling in a mild winter so far this season. On Tuesday the plows roared out of city garages.

"Encouraging everyone to be extra cautious during this morning's commute as #BOSnow makes an appearance for the first time this winter," Mayor Marty Walsh tweeted.

The roads across parts of New York state were littered with accidents and slowdowns. The Transportation Department warned drivers to "be extra alert when traveling to account for the snow/ice."

Burlington, Vt., was dealing with snow and sleet. Green Mountain Power, the state's largest utility, was warning of likely outages as the winter storm bore down on the state.

The National Weather Service forecast a sometimes heavy mix of snow and ice through Tuesday night across parts of the Northern and Central Plains, the Great Lakes and the Northeast. Maine might see the worst of it; the weather service warned that parts of the state could be walloped with 2 inches of snow per hour.

The week-old weather pattern that brought tornadoes, snow, ice, heavy rain and flooding to Texas and parts of the Midwest and Southeast has been blamed for more than 40 deaths.

Contributing: The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press; The Indianapolis Star