His farm machinery and household goods are being stored in 48-ft and 53-ft trailers while he and his wife stay with his mother in Hamburg.

The prolonged flooding may prevent adequate soil-drying and, later, aeration for crops next year, so he may have to resort to planting clover or rye “to get organic matter back in the soil,” he says.

The riverside highways are still submerged. Transportation officials in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri can't provide an estimate of damages, needed repairs or costs.

“We're anticipating, as soon as the water starts receding, lining up contractors to start rip-rapping [to counter erosion],” says Tom Sands, operations manager for the Nebraska Dept. of Roads.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad raised track levels 5 ft in western Iowa, bringing in 700 railcars of ballast for support, and built four miles of levees on both sides of the track to keep open the east-west line, near Creston, that carries 40 trains daily.

Flood Control