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Guard, inmates help sandbag Wis. rivers

BERLIN, Wis., June 18 (UPI) -- Residents of Omro, Wis., Friday braced for the worst in advance of Sunday's predicted crest of the bloated Fox River.

More than 100 homes and businesses are threatened.

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The river rose for the seventh straight day as National Guard troops trucked 80,000 sandbags from Camp Douglas to communities in east-central Wisconsin. State prison inmates helped place 30,000 sandbags along the river in the town of Berlin.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle asked President George W. Bush to declare 12 counties disaster areas, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said.

State emergency management officials closed Highway 21 in Omro late Wednesday after powerful storms dumped another 3.5 inches of rain on the waterlogged region.

Winnebago County officials have banned all boating, swimming and water recreation on the Fox River, Wolf River and Little Lake Buttes des Morts until the water recedes. The Milwaukee River, the Rock River and the Beaver Dam River remained above flood stage.

Residents of a flood-prone subdivision in Wheatland were asked to voluntarily evacuate their homes.

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