30 before and after photos show the devastation from the floods in the Midwest
This might look like a lake, but until earlier this year, it was a soybean farm in Vicksburg, Mississippi, owned and farmed by by Randy and his daughter Victoria Darden. Videographer Nathan Willis visited the area for an episode of "Business Insider Today".
Randy has lived in the area for about 50 years, but this is the first time he won't be planting at all. Here they're gliding towards what is usually fields of soybean crops. Instead, it's 6 feet of water.
Source: Business Insider
That means the Dardens won't be bringing in any income this year, when they usually grow about $600,000 worth of crops.
Source: Business Insider
The floodwaters swallowed up tractors on farmland near the Mississippi River.
And submerged this truck.
Boats or four-wheel-drive vehicles have been necessary to get around.
Towns situated right beside the Mississippi River, like Grafton, Illinois, are especially prone to flooding.
This residential area in Grafton looks completely different from normal.
Typically, the lighthouse seen in the previous photo isn't actually in the water.
Here a man cuts his lawns just up from one of Grafton's main roads, which is entirely submerged.
This is what it normally looks like.
In May, water similarly covered the streets of Davenport, Iowa.
And it surrounded businesses, like the Half Nelson and Bootleg Hill Taproom.
But it hasn't always been like that. Here are the roads before the floods.
In June, barriers dividing the road from the Mississippi River in West Alton, Missouri, are no longer so clear.
This is what it was like when the divide still existed.
In June, floodwaters rose and submerged parts of Alton, Illinois.
Normally, it's a busy arterial road.
And what looks to be a scene from a post-apocalyptic film is actually ....
... just a mill beside a flooded main road.
After the floods, a boat is the best way to get home in West Alton, Missouri.
Before the floods, the local shops were merely a drive away.
In June, much of Foley, Missouri, was overtaken by the Mississippi River.
Things looked so different on the dry ground before.
In 1941, Congress approved a plan called the Yazoo Backwater Project, to deal with these floods. It was meant to build pumps, levees, and canals to drain flooded areas.
Source: Business Insider
But the pumps never eventuated due to delays. And in 2008, the EPA vetoed the pumps, because of fears it would threaten wetlands and wildlife.
Source: Business Insider
In April, the EPA said it was reconsidering. But there have been no further developments.
Source: Business Insider
Parking lots in Barnhart, Missouri, are no drier than the roads.
It's usually a good place to park for a meal.
Floodwaters are receding in the Midwest, but it could take months before many areas are completely back to normal. Until then, boats may remain the favored method of transportation.
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