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Midwest flooding brings high infrastructure costs

A lot of repair and recovery work hasn’t even started yet.

Tom Bullock, emergency services director of Holt County, Missouri, stands on a broken bridge on U.S. 159. Although a state contract has been issued for its repair, work still hasn’t started.
Tom Bullock, emergency services director of Holt County, Missouri, stands on a broken bridge on U.S. 159. Although a state contract has been issued for its repair, work still hasn’t started.
Peggy Lowe/KCUR

A huge storm in the Midwest in mid-March and a subsequent dam break in northern Nebraska triggered historic flooding of the Missouri River. Some places, like thousands of acres of farmland in Holt County, Missouri, are still underwater. There are also miles-long holes in the levees, roads have been closed for months and bridges are left in rubble. Months later, people are still working on recovery. The costs to infrastructure are mounting, but in some places, it’s still hard to estimate how much will need to be spent on recovery because government officials can’t get to some areas yet to assess the damage.

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