With record flooding in the Mississippi River basin, US President George Bush was travelling Thursday to inspect devastation as the storied river carried its flood crest toward Hannibal, the hometown of one of America's most beloved writers, according to DPA. Thousands of volunteers were hefting sacks of sand to reinforce levees downstream from areas like Cedar Rapids, Iowa where waters were draining and recovery efforts have started. More than 20 levees have already broken, releasing some of the pressure into nearby fields and towns. "The Mississippi doesn't play," said a grim Robert Betts, city manager of East St. Louis, where the flood is not expected to crest until Monday. He was speaking in broadcast remarks as he surveyed waters that have already started to well up behind the levees there. After days of heavy rain last week, experts are speaking of a record 100-year or even 500-year flood in the Mississippi River basin that drains the North American continent from Minnesota on the Canadian border south to New Orleans.
