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Missouri river levee springs 2nd partial breach

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June 6th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

ROCK PORT, Mo. (AP) – A second partial breach has been reported on a Missouri River levee in northwest Missouri.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported the first breach on the levee near the Missouri-Iowa border on Sunday. The second breach, which is about 10 feet wide, was reported Monday.

The corps said the Iowa National Guard has been dropping thousands of pounds of large sandbags to help fill the breaches, but the damaged areas are expected to fully breach as water levels rise.

Officials in Iowa and Missouri began evacuations Sunday from Hamburg, Iowa, and from several homes on the Missouri side of the levee because of the breaches. The corps has predicted record river flows and large releases from several upstream reservoirs because of steady spring rain and runoff from record snowpack.