Farmland underwater and crops ruined amidst world food shortage

SHOTLIST 1. Wide shot of flooded field 2. Close up of grass blowing in wind, flooded field in the background 3. Various of flooded fields 4. Wide of farm and flooded plains 5. Close up of crops in field 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Marshall Middendorf, farmer: "All my crops that were grown in the flood plain, which by definition the flood plain, it's all - those were ruined. I had corn and beans down in there, and their probably 98 percent gone, maybe a hundred. I would say a hundred judging from the looks of it." 7. Wide of tanks on farm 8. Top-shot of flooded field 9. Wide of flooded field from roadside STORYLINE: A levee break on the swollen White River in Indiana sent floodwaters pouring into several square miles of farmland, as authorities on Wednesday urged local residents to evacuate the area. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels asked federal agriculture officials to declare dozens of counties major disaster areas, qualifying farmers for emergency loans. Extensive flooding in the Midwest of the United States has prompted evacuations, shut down cities and wiped out roads. A farmer in southern Bartholomew County, Indiana said most of the crops he had planted in the flood plane were destroyed. "I had corn and beans down in there, and there probably 98 percent gone, maybe a hundred. I would say a hundred judging from the looks of it," Marshall Middendorf said. Heavy rain also affected northeastern Iowa, where officials asked for volunteers to help shore up a sandbagged levee that was preventing a swollen river from spilling over as more rain moved across the region on Wednesday. The Cedar River in Iowa, had been expected to top the levee overnight, deluging downtown Cedar Falls, but officials said on Wednesday the sandbags appeared to be holding. A new wave of rain fell across parts of Iowa on Wednesday, including some flood-threatened areas. The rain came as a band of storms rippled across the northern Plains. Rising rivers wiped out a railroad bridge elsewhere in Iowa on Tuesday, and closed part of a Wisconsin freeway. In Wisconsin, fixing the broken and nearly empty Lake Delton, where churning water carved a new channel and drained into the Wisconsin River, was only one of the challenges facing engineers and contractors on Wednesday, as rising rivers threatened a bridge and shut down portions of highways. Residents along the Mississippi River were preparing for what could be the worst flooding in 15 years. The National Weather Service on Tuesday predicted crests of 10 feet (3 metres) above flood stage and higher over the next two weeks along the Mississippi River. Most of the towns are protected by levees, but authorities warned outlying areas could be flooded. The forecast included more rain, but the National Weather Service said the inch or two 2 (about 5 centimetres) of rain expected to fall on Thursday would likely lead to dry conditions on Friday, and a dry spell could be coming after another weather system moves through over the weekend, it said. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9f017ec86f796a0fcfa3385fe57f1245 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork