Thousands Still Homeless in Midwest Floods

Thousands of Midwestern flood victims remained homeless Tuesday and their governors pressed claims for federal aid as rivers drained toward the swollen Mississippi River.

For thousands of others, the cleanup was under way.

“There are about a jillion dead worms in my basement,” Diane Holst, 52, of Gurnee, Ill., said as she scrubbed down her flood-damaged house. “It smells like dead carp.”

Dog Swims Home

Holst said there was one smell she did not mind--wet dog. She said she and her husband, Ray, had sent their cocker spaniel to a relative to escape the flooding, but “after a few days, he swam home. . . . We thought it was a good sign.”

President Reagan declared parts of northeastern Illinois federal disaster areas Tuesday, clearing the way for federal aid to victims of the flooding. Gov. James R. Thompson has estimated $40 million in damage statewide.

Representatives of Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Michigan also pressed aid applications.

Five feet of water swamped the streets of East St. Louis, Ill., where a broken floodgate allowed the rising Mississippi River to flow into the city.

1,200 Forced to Flee

American Red Cross officials said up to 1,200 people were forced from their homes in the area and would not be able to return until today at the earliest.

The Missouri River rose to 37.5 feet Tuesday at St. Charles, Mo., outside St. Louis, more than 12 feet over flood stage, but the city is mostly protected by levees. The National Weather Service said it should begin receding after reaching its highest level since 1951.

Nearby, in St. Charles County, about 800 families had been asked to leave two trailer parks after a levee broke Monday.

“The majority of them got out, but a few stayed,” Lt. Jim Hudson of the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday. “The rest of them are hollering and screaming now for us to get them.”

The Mississippi River was expected to crest today at St. Louis at 40 or 41 feet, about 10 feet over flood stage. The highest crest on record was 43.2 feet in April, 1973.