Pumps are used to try to stay ahead of creeping floodwater as it seeps into the historic downtown area of Alton, Ill., on May 30, 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty
Floodwater from the Mississippi rises around a home in West Alton, Mo., on June 1, 2019.
Nati Harnik/AP
Jeff Jorgenson looks over a partially flooded field he farms near Shenandoah, Iowa, on May 29, 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty
Rick Milner grabs some rope from his barn to try to secure a pump removing floodwater from his home on June 1, 2019, in Old Monroe, Mo.
David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Emily Kientzel empties the water out of her grandmother's boot as they check on the home of a friend outside of Portage des Sioux, Mo., on June 2, 2019. The women are standing on the second story balcony of the home.
Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad City Times
Downtown Davenport, Iowa, covered by Mississippi River floodwaters on May 3, 2019.
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Erosion from flooding on farmland in La Moille, Ill., on May 29, 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty
Floodwater from the Mississippi River covers two lanes of Highway 67, forcing traffic to share the two eastbound lanes on June 1, 2019, in downstate Alton.
Scott Olson/Getty
Barricades keep traffic from a road covered with floodwater from the Mississippi River on June 1, 2019, in Alton, Ill.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Workers are ferried through floodwater across Highway 100 to their jobs at Ardent Mills on May 31, 2019, in Alton, Ill.
DroneBase via AP
Flooded homes in Pine Bluff, Ark., on June 4, 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Water from the Mississippi River surrounds a home in Alton, Ill., on June 1, 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty
Jake Buehlman helps construct a temporary floodwall to keep water out of the historic downtown area of Alton, Ill., on May 30, 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty
Jacob Walton, left, and Hank Elder bring a load of sandbags to help a neighbor trying to save his home from rising floodwater on June 1, 2019, in Old Monroe, Mo.
The Mississippi River is straining levees, devastating agriculture and forcing people from their homes as the water line in some places approaches record levels set during flooding in 1993. The river is expected to crest in St. Louis on Thursday, and flooding throughout the Mississippi’s tributaries has already breached a number of levees in Arkansas and Missouri.
Below are images from the flooding that has inundated the Midwest this year. For more on the political drama surrounding the Mighty Mississippi’s Reconstruction-era levees, click here.
A tow truck driver carries a cable to hook up to vehicles stranded in floodwater in Lakeville, Minn., on June 4, 2019.
Austin Schiff pedals past a vehicle stranded in floodwater in Lakeville, Minn., on June 4, 2019.
Flooded homes in Pine Bluff, Ark., on June 4, 2019.
Emily Kientzel empties the water out of her grandmother’s boot as they check on the home of a friend outside of Portage des Sioux, Mo., on June 2, 2019. The women are standing on the second story balcony of the home.
Floodwater from the Mississippi rises around a home in West Alton, Mo., on June 1, 2019.
Rick Milner grabs some rope from his barn to try to secure a pump removing floodwater from his home on June 1, 2019, in Old Monroe, Mo.
Jacob Walton, left, and Hank Elder bring a load of sandbags to help a neighbor trying to save his home from rising floodwater on June 1, 2019, in Old Monroe, Mo.
Water from the Mississippi River surrounds a home in Alton, Ill., on June 1, 2019.
Barricades keep traffic from a road covered with floodwater from the Mississippi River on June 1, 2019, in Alton, Ill.
Floodwater from the Mississippi River covers two lanes of Highway 67, forcing traffic to share the two eastbound lanes on June 1, 2019, in downstate Alton.
Jake Buehlman helps construct a temporary floodwall to keep water out of the historic downtown area of Alton, Ill., on May 30, 2019.
Workers are ferried through floodwater across Highway 100 to their jobs at Ardent Mills on May 31, 2019, in Alton, Ill.
Pumps are used to try to stay ahead of creeping floodwater as it seeps into the historic downtown area of Alton, Ill., on May 30, 2019.
Erosion from flooding on farmland in La Moille, Ill., on May 29, 2019.
Jeff Jorgenson looks over a partially flooded field he farms near Shenandoah, Iowa, on May 29, 2019.
Downtown Davenport, Iowa, covered by Mississippi River floodwaters on May 3, 2019.
