Flooding Could Leave Iowa Town Underwater

05:05

June 07, 2011

A restaurant is surrounded by a temporary berm in Hamburg, Iowa. The town is under a mandatory evacuation order as the Missouri River continues to rise. (AP)

Here & Now Guest:

Dan Swanson, reporter for the Hamburg Reporter

Flooding along the Missouri River is expected to break decades-old records this summer and test its system of levees, dams and flood walls like never before. The swollen river is already threatening the small southwest Iowa town of Hamburg.

Crews were scrambling Monday to pile massive sandbags on a faltering levee and build a secondary barrier. The fire chief says that if those efforts fail, parts of Hamburg could be under as much as 8 feet of water for a month or more.

Hamburg Reporter: Levee breach near Hamburg prompts swift evacuation

This segment aired on June 7, 2011.