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The worst floods to hit the central United States in more than 80 years swallowed up homes, farms and roadways on Monday, as the mighty Mississippi River swelled to six times its normal width.Officials patrolled stressed levees in waterlogged Memphis, Tennessee where the Mississippi - normally about half a mile across - is currently about three miles (4.8 kilometers) wide.
Daryl Hissong and his three-year-old son were among thousands of people forced from their homes by the muddy waters of record spring flooding.
They packed up on Sunday and by Monday morning there were five feet (almost two meters) of water inside his home in Millington, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis.
"They said it'll probably be a month before all of this goes down," Hissong told AFP as he looked at the flood which had swept up to the rooftops of neighbouring trailer homes.
Levees and natural bluffs have protected most of Memphis from serious flooding, but those living in the affluent neighbourhood of Mud Island were struggling to keep the waters at bay.
The floodwaters already have engulfed homes along the shoreline and on Monday broke through a sandbag barrier set up around a condominium on the other side of the road.
"We're staying and riding it out, I guess," resident Dawn Watkins said as workers reinforced the sandbags. "I didn't have any water until just a few minutes ago."
The US Army Corps of Engineers has deployed about 150 people to patrol the city's levees day and night to check for potential problems.
"We're very confident that the levee system is up to the test," spokesperson Jim Pogue said.
Portions of the Mississippi were closed to shipping and the US Coast Guard opened flood gates outside of New Orleans to help protect the low-lying city as a flood wave makes its way slowly down to the Gulf of Mexico.
"We're looking at some pretty substantial flooding all the way from Memphis to Louisiana," said Tom Bradshaw, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Heavy rains last month filled rivers and creeks already swollen from the melting of a thick winter snow pack, which are backing up because the Mississippi is so swollen.
It's the biggest flood in the Mississippi Valley since 1937 and the river is rising above those records in some areas, Bradshaw said.
"What's helping us is that we have a lot of levees we didn't have back in 1937 and they're able to control the water a lot better so you don't see the massive displacement of folks and literally washing away of towns that you did in the old days," Bradshaw said.
But it will still take weeks for the river levels to return to normal and there are plenty of homes which could be lost, particularly in the low-lying Mississippi Delta.
Martin Moss, who lives near Horn Lake, Mississippi said the potential flooding was hard to take after three weeks of tornado warnings and severe thunderstorms which blasted the area last month.
"I could use a break from all this," said Moss as he packed up his irreplaceable possessions and stored them in his attic.
And then there's the second flood - tourists, gawkers, and amateur photographers whose cars glutted Downtown Memphis streets.
"I can understand their curiosity, but it was really quite difficult," said Mary Ann Bodayla, who lives on Mud Island. "Even the mailman had difficulty because there were so many cars."
Meanwhile, Governor Steve Beshear of Kentucky said on Monday most of the 3800 people evacuated from counties along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers may soon be allowed to return home and assess the damage.
In Missouri where waters have also begun to recede, Governor Jay Nixon sought federal assistance for farmers in 56 counties. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is seeking federal help for 14 counties while Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is seeking federal funds for 11 counties.
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