Flooding Mississippi River poses dire threats

MEMPHIS, Tenn., (Reuters) – The swollen Mississippi  River swallowed up farmland and threatened river towns yesterday, as record amounts of water tested a network of levees  and reservoirs built since deadly floods in the last century.

Police in Memphis, Tennessee, distributed evacuation  warnings to nearly 3,000 homes, apartment complexes and  businesses that could be in the path of the flood waters seen  peaking on Monday.

Water lapped onto Beale Street, site of the city’s renowned  music scene, and threatened homes on Mud Island, a community