BLOOMINGTON - Flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries has drawn help from Bloomington-based National Guard members, insurers in Bloomington-Normal and area emergency managers. | Updated photo gallery | Interactive map

More than 30 Guard members with the Bloomington-based 33rd Military Police Battalion are among the nearly 1,400 Illinois Army and Air National Guard members deployed to flooded areas, according to National Guard officials.

Bill Nowlin, director of the Tazewell County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, said he and other members of his agency have been helping workers and volunteers with issues such as communication near Quincy since Monday. He said he has seen a myriad of government employees, prisoners from work camps, Illinois National Guard members and volunteers.

State Farm Insurance Cos. has catastrophe teams throughout the Midwest, where it has recorded 44,670 home and business claims in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota since May 28, spokeswoman Missy Lundberg said.

And 50 Country Financial employees from Bloomington helped with sandbagging efforts Friday near the banks of the Mississippi River in Hull.

"There was a need," company spokesman Jay Verner said. "These are the communities we serve out here. It's about making the communities we serve a better place."

Nowlin said there have been a few places where water has leaked underneath the levee near Quincy and boiled up elsewhere. But those boils were quickly sandbagged to prevent erosion of the levee, he said.

The levee is holding, Nowlin said, but there are summer cottages and small clusters of houses on the wrong side of the levee.

"There's not a whole lot you can do," Nowlin said.

Three officials with the McLean County Emergency Management Agency and the agency's mobile command vehicle are involved in flood relief efforts, said EMA Assistant Director Bob Clark. Those EMA officials are Director Curt Hawk, Chief of Operations Eric Hodges and Sgt. Brian Blomgren. Details on their involvement were not immediately available.

Twin City insurers have had thousands of weather-related claims since May 28, including hundreds of flood-related claims.

State Farm has had 4,961 home and business claims in Illinois, Lundberg said. Of those, 100 are flood claims.

Iowa has 4,200 home and business claims, 403 of which are flood claims. Missouri has 640 weather-related claims and "just over a handful" of flood claims, she said. Indiana has 8,393 home and business claims, including about 350 from flooding.

Private insurance companies sell flood policies on behalf of the National Flood Insurance Program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA is responsible for setting rates, deductibles and coverage terms.

The flood claim numbers are low now because it's still early in the process and many people haven't gotten back to their homes and businesses to file claims, Lundberg said. Also reducing flood claim numbers are the facts that many people don't buy flood insurance and much of the flooded area is farmland.

So far, claim tallies are not as high as those filed back in the major flooding of 1993, but it's still too early to draw exact conclusions, Lundberg said. State Farm officials are working to compile specific information about the 1993 flood claims.

"It has the potential to be as bad because of all the towns around the river," Lundberg said.

Country Financial has had a handful of storm claims from places along the river in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, Verner said. But those take a backseat to the flooding issues and claims, which the federal government oversees, he said.

Illinois State Police Lt. Scott Compton said his agency has been deploying troopers to areas along waterways, particularly in Lawrence County, along the Fox River and in the Mississippi River Valley. Those troopers' duties were expected to vary depending on community needs, but they likely would include watching checkpoints to keep people out of evacuated areas, keeping people off levees, maintaining perimeter and traffic control, and assisting with air support and rescues.

Compton said the troopers and command staff have been working around the clock.

Other than the county EMA, nobody has been assigned flood-related duties from McLean County government, the city of Bloomington or the town of Normal, according to officials from each.

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How to help

- Anyone wishing to donate money to assist The Salvation Army flood relief efforts may send a check labeled "Disaster Relief" to The Salvation Army community center, 611 W. Washington St., Bloomington, IL 61701 or make a donation at www.salvationarmyusa.org or by calling (800) SAL-ARMY.

- Anyone wishing to support American Red Cross flood relief efforts may send contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund to the Red Cross chapter house, 1 Westport Court, Bloomington, IL 61704. They also may donate by calling (800) HELP-NOW or visiting www.redcross.org. Donors may designate that their donations are for flood relief.

- Anyone wishing to donate blood may call (309) 662-0500 to make an appointment.

SOURCES: Andrea Raycraft, Lyn Hruska