Midwest levee breaks, corn price at new high

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Source: Reuters

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The Mississippi River burst through an earthen levee on Friday, inundating a small Missouri town as more heavy rains fell and adding to the U.S. Midwest's multibillion-dollar flood disaster that is fueling fears of global food price inflation.

The levee break, the 36th in the last two weeks, sent a torrent of muddy water into Winfield, a town of about 800 north of St. Louis, where officials said about 100 homes and 1,300 acres of crop land would be submerged.

Heavy rains again were reported in parts of the region on Friday and forecasters warned more flooding was likely because the sodden ground can absorb little more.

"It's a tragic, devastating disaster," Russ Kremer, a grain and livestock farmer who is president of the Missouri Farmers Union, said of the worst Midwest floods in 15 years.

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