DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- Des Moines officials are monitoring levees holding back the Des Moines River as more water pours in from Saylorville Lake just north of the city.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has raised a 6-foot inflatable barrier atop an emergency spillway at Saylorville. Corps spokesman Ron Fournier says computer models show the lake reaching the top of those barriers on Wednesday. If that happens, it will be the fifth time since the lake was constructed in 1977 that water has gone over the spillway.
Des Moines is shoring up the levees protecting neighborhoods north of downtown, including Birdland, which flooded in 2008.
Some residents, however, aren't taking any chances and are moving out of their homes to higher ground.
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