August 23, 2007 (LPAC)-- The floods hitting the Midwest in the wake of tropical storm Erin have left over 1,000 people displaced. The floods have been made worse by an outdated levee system, prime examples of which are the failing levees along the Des Moines river in north-central Iowa. According to emergency management officials, these levees have already been sandbagged, but this may not be sufficient to keep them from collapsing.

The five levees that protect the city of East St. Louis, IL, from floods are also threatened. The levees were built 70 years ago by the Roosevelt era public works programs, but have had minimum maintenance over recent years. The August 23 New York Times reports that the five levees do not meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency standards for flood protection and will be removed from the maps the agency publishes to record flood vulnerability. FEMA will judge the region as an "unprotected flood plain." The levees failed the test for water seepage which the Army Corp of Engineers has been using since Hurricane Katrina. Such water seepage can undermine stability.

In one Ohio county alone more than 700 homes have been severely damaged or destroyed by the flood, and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has already declared a state of emergency in nine counties. Other severely affected states are Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Minnesota.

Twenty-nine people have been killed since the floods started Monday of this week.