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At least 18 more levees on the already flooded Mississippi River are at high risk of being overwhelmed this weekend, endangering small communities and farmland where decades-old flood protections are far below modern-day guidelines. At least half of the 31 levees already breached or topped between southern Iowa and St. Louis were not built to handle a flood of such historic proportions, according to a USA TODAY review of data from the Army Corps of Engineers. Many of those were built at least 30 years ago, and some date to the 1940s.

Just before the commencement of the monsoon, PCMC commissioner Ashish Sharma called for a meeting of various officials to discuss flood control measures recently. People staying near the banks of the rivers Pavna, Mula and Indryani have to face the menace of floods, threatening their life and property.

Two of the six power units that had collapsed in Kolaghat on Tuesday were revived this evening, but the districts still stayed dark because generation was low. The 210MW units had collapsed after the switchyard of the Kolaghat thermal power plant got flooded. Six pumps helped clear the water in the switchyard. "But there was a thick layer of slush in the switchyard which had to be cleared. This led to delay in repairs,' a power department official said.

- Eleven people die in Midnapores as Met office forecasts more rain in coastal areas The flood killed 11 more people in East and West Midnapore today, taking the toll to 20 and prompting the government to add to its relief purse. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who will be travelling to Kolaghat in East Midnapore tomorrow, held a meeting with finance minister Asim Dasgupta, health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra and relief minister Mortaza Hossain in Calcutta. He might visit some of the flood-hit areas tomorrow.

Mohali villages High Court warns developers, government officials of action The building blocks of Mohali

SHILLONG

The Rs.253-crore flood prevention project, to strengthen the bunds of the Cauvery, Coleroon and other rivers in Tiruchi, Karur and combined Perambalur districts, would be completed within two years, Public Works Department Minister Durai Murugan has said. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi would lay the foundation stones for this and three other projects of the Public Works Department to be taken up in Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Karur, Nagapattinam and combined Perambalur districts here on June 24.

Normal life out of gear in Orissa, 50 villages in Balasore badly affected Flood fury: A trailer truck that plunged into the water when a bridge on the national highway between Balasore and Kharagpur was washed away in the floods. More than 16 lakh people are affected in flash floods that have inundated vast areas in West Bengal's Paschim and Purbo Medinipur districts following torrential rains over the past two days. Four people were killed and three reported missing in the two districts, according to reports reaching here on Wednesday.

Human waste overflows, fertilizer runoff and floating propane tanks are raising concerns in the flooded Midwest but should not cause severe or long-term environmental problems, health officials say. Serious chemical pollution from factories and chemical plants "aren't concerns because we don't have many reports, just isolated cases and leaks," said Karen Timberlake, Wisconsin's secretary of Health and Family Services.

Alarmed by the magnitude of the flood in East and West Medinipur, the state government called in the Army and Air Force to expedite rescue and relief operation. Five people have been killed and over 16 lakh have been affected by the floods. Those killed, includes the former confidential assistant of Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Gautam Basu. He and two others were swept away in the flash floods in the Keleghai river on Tuesday night.

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