Flooding threatens towns in Iowa, Wisconsin

The Cedar River had been expected to top the levee in Cedar Falls overnight, but city spokeswoman Susan Staudt said early Wednesday that the sandbags appeared to be holding.

The river had fallen to 101.8 feet shortly before 5 a.m., down from 102 feet several hours earlier. The previous record was 99.2 feet in 1999.

Thousands of volunteers who showed up Tuesday to help with the sandbagging effort "saved this city, but we are still at a critical point," Staudt said.

Floodwaters were threatening water treatment plants in several towns, Lt. Gov. Patty Judge said. Mason City's plant was knocked out of service Sunday after the Winnebago River broke through a levee, while officials in Des Moines hoped that releasing water from the Saylorville Reservoir would protect the capital city and its water treatment plant from flooding.

In Wisconsin, fixing the broken and nearly empty Lake Delton, where rushing water carved a new channel and drained into the Wisconsin River, was only one of the challenges facing engineers and contractors on Wednesday.