There is more pain and anguish for Americans as mankind once again tangles with Mother Nature during the freakish natural disasters on 2011.
Communities along the Missouri River are bracing for record rising water levels, evacuating at least one town in Iowa and several more in South Dakota, while preparing a nuclear plant down river in Nebraska for potential flooding.
"This is the worst flooding that I can remember on the Missouri River," Gov. Terry Bransted told a news conference. "It continues to be a very serious situation. It's important for residents along the Missouri to continually monitor the situation."
The Army Corps of Engineeers said it dropped sand bags from helicopters at faltering parts of levies as residents in Hamburg, Iowa were evacuated in anticipation of devastating flood waters washing through the community. The Army Corps is building a secondary berm to back up the levy in Hamburg.
Officials fear Hamburg will be underwater for weeks if the levy breaches.
The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska declared a "notification of unusual event" ahead of potential flooding there, but officials stressed the control room and other vital areas of the facility were built to withstand flooding.
Authorities in Omaha are closely monitoring some 14 miles of levees along the Missouri River.
Like the Mississippi River, the rising waters of the Missouri River are creating a slow, painful wave of destruction as the floods wash over the plains in the path.
In South Dakota, people already have been evacuated from low-lying areas of Dakota Dunes, Pierre and Fort Pierre.
The floods are blamed on intense rains that have reservoirs overflowing in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
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