Crops take hit in Midwest flooding

QUINCY, Ill., June 18 (UPI) -- The Mississippi River has breached two levees in western Illinois Wednesday, bringing the number of levees that have given way this week to nearly 20.

The breaches 45 miles south of Gulfport flooded farmland near Meyer, Ill., and south of there in the Indian Graves levee district, The New York Times reported.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday the flooding thus far has left about 12 percent of Midwestern crops in poor to very poor condition.

The damage has lifted corn prices to $8 a bushel and soybeans to $15.96 a bushel.

Floodwaters overtopped a levee near Meyer, Ill., allowing the swollen river to pour into prime farmland in Hancock and Adams counties, where wheat fields were just about ready to be harvested, CNN reported Wednesday.

"There's a lot of wheat fields down here just about ready to be harvested, and they're going to lose all that," Hancock County Sheriff John Jefferson told the network.

"The corn crop, the bean crop that's up is all going to be lost. And the real work's going to come after the flood recedes. It'll take years to get this ground back into shape to farm it," he added.