Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Inmates from the Illinois Department of Corrections have been helping fill sandbag along rivers in the state as floodwaters rise.
State officials say flood response efforts from the State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield continued on Monday. They say inmates have worked nearly 8,200 hours and filled more than 125,000 sandbags so far. Two inmate crews were working Monday in Scott County, helping with the Big Swan Levee. Flooding started last month in Illinois and has left nine people dead.
Illinois emergency officials say the state is in contact with the National Weather Service, which reports that decreasing water levels on the Mississippi and Sangamon rivers. Meanwhile, waters are expected to rise on the Illinois River south of Peoria and on some locations along the Wabash River in southeastern Illinois.
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