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Bush tours flood-hit U.S. Midwest
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| Copyright: | XINHUA NEWS AGENCY | | Source: | Comtex Finance | | Wordcount: | 271 |
WASHINGTON, Jun 19, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- U.S. President George W. Bush Thursday visited the U.S. Midwest region that was hit by the worst flooding since 1993.
During a stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bush promised local residents and officials that his government will try its best to help them to recover from a disaster described by top government officials as the biggest U.S. disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Ten Midwestern states have suffered severe flooding, and among them Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Nebraska are hit the hardest.
The flooding since early this month have left at least 24 people dead, 148 injured and tens of thousands homeless.
Although the death toll were not high in comparison with the 1993 Midwest floods that caused 48 deaths.
But the financial loss will rival the over 20-billion-U.S.- dollar loss in 1993 floods since a large proportion of the region' s croplands were destroyed.
As many as 2 million hectares of croplands will have no production this year and corn prices at the Chicago Board of Trade keep soaring as a result.
The food price hike will not only influence the United States, but also many nations around the world since the United States exports 54 percent of the world's corn, 36 percent of its soybeans and 23 percent of its wheat.
Many of these products are from the vast croplands in the U.S. Midwest region.
The Bush administration has sent more than 22 million dollars in aid to the flooded areas so far and the Congress earmarked 2 billion dollars for disaster relief in a newly adopted spending bill.
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