PIEDMONT, Mo. - Residents stacked sandbags or grabbed belongings and evacuated March 19, 2008, after a foot of rain pushed rivers and creeks out of their banks in the nation's midsection.

Record or near-record flood crests were forecast at several towns in Missouri. Flooding was reported in large areas of Arkansas and parts of southern

The National Weather Service (NWS) posted Flood and Flash Flood Warnings from Texas to Pennsylvania. After two days, rain stopped falling March 19, 2008 in much of Missouri and Arkansas.

A foot of rain had fallen in sections of southern Illinois and at Mountain Home, Ark., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., while 6.2 inches fell at Evansville, Ind., according to the NWS.

An estimated 300 houses and businesses were flooded in Piedmont, a town of 2,000 residents on McKenzie Creek. Dozens of people were rescued by boat.

Outside St. Louis, Missouri, the Meramec River was threatening towns including Eureka and Valley Park, where the flood stage is only 16 feet.  A levee completed in 2005 is designed to hold a flood of 43 feet, three feet above the crest forecast for later this week, March 16 - 22, 2008.

The James River was approaching record levels of more than 33 feet above normal at the small Ozarks hilltop town of Galena, west of Branson, flooding a commercial strip and homes near the town.

Floodwaters swept away at least 30 homes from several towns on the James River in southwest Missouri, according to the National Weather Service. Several homes were seen floating down the river.

Widespread flooding in Arkansas had washed out some highways and led to evacuations in some areas, said a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

Some residents of southern Illinois had to evacuate. In Marion, Illinois, firefighters in some cases used their own fishing boats to rescued 13 residents.

Key roads were closed in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, where water four feet deep was reported in businesses in the suburb of Sharonville, Ohio.  (Source: 3/20 FEMA Situation Report)