The Nation - News from March 8, 1985

Volunteers piled sandbags along the rising Illinois River but authorities said that there was little they could do to save the Illinois towns of Rome and Liverpool, where floodwaters reached the rooftops of houses. Water spilling from the river threatened the region with its worst flooding in history. The towns were “lost to any flood-fighting efforts,” Greg Durham, spokesman for the Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, said. “The towns are completely evacuated.” The river stood at 28.4 feet--still shy of the record 28.8 set in 1943. It was expected to crest at 29.5 feet by Saturday.