Meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. is temporarily suspending work at two Iowa plants, while farm-equipment maker Deere & Co. was forced by rising rivers to evacuate a foundry in that state. A St. Louis-based riverboat casino on the Mississippi River closed, and a lake at a popular resort in Wisconsin emptied after an embankment burst.
Across the regions towns are confronting collapsed bridges and overflowing sewers. Further heavy rain may burst or overtop already stressed dams and levees in Wisconsin and Iowa. "Our city is basically closed," said Waterloo, Iowa, police Lt. Rich Carter, as rain poured down windows in the police department's building.
The downtown commercial district, normally buzzing as Deere's five facilities in town and others have continued hiring in recent years, was virtually empty Wednesday, as seven of eight bridges crossing the river into town were closed. Several neighborhoods were evacuated.
The economic damage's extent is uncertain, but the early flooding already is drawing comparisons to the 1993 floods that caused more than $20 billion of damage in the Midwest. The National Weather Service said flood damage probably could reach "hundreds of millions of dollars," but floods are typically slow-rolling disasters, and weeks may pass before their full effect is known. If forecast rain pours down in the next few days, the Mississippi River might reach or exceed levels last seen in 1993.
In many parts of the Midwest, rainfall is above average. In Waterloo, for example, nearly 28 inches of rain have fallen so far this year, up from a 30-year average of about 13 inches for the same time period, according to the National Weather Service.
The Midwest economy has avoided several of the problems dogging other parts of the country. For example, the housing bust hasn't been nearly as severe in the nation's center. The farm economy is generating record income, in large part on booming world-wide demand for grain.
The floods, however, are disrupting business across the Midwest. "It certainly puts a damper on that star, there's no doubt about that," said Ernest Goss, a widely followed regional economist at Creighton University, in Omaha, Neb. The "impacts, I think, will be fairly significant."