Rivers are expected to crest by early June to the highest levels on record all the way down to Little Rock, Arkansas
(Adds quotes from Tulsa mayor)
By Rich McKay
May 30 (Reuters) - Rain-swollen rivers threatened more flooding on Thursday in Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois and Oklahoma, and Tulsa's mayor warned the decades-old levee system would be at risk even as waters receded through the weekend.
More than a week of violent weather, including downpours and deadly tornadoes, has lashed the central United States, killing at least six people, bringing record-breaking floods, turning highways into lakes and submerging all but the roofs of some homes.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma's second-largest city, the state's National Guard staged round-the-clock patrols of the 20-mile (32-km) levee system that protects some 10,000 people.
"To have a 70-year–old levy system that has been poorly maintained and protects thousands of people and their homes and property and to have it go through a historic level of stress at that age and in the condition it's in, it's been an area of high risk," Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a phone interview.
The Army Corps of Engineers was gradually reducing the level of water behind the berms, aiming to return it to a safe level by Sunday night, Bynum said.
"You have all this material that has high pressure on it and is saturated with water, as that pressure is relieved, you see material start to fall away. That can endanger the integrity of the levee," Bynum said. "That risk won't be relieved until late this weekend."
There were no reports of major levee breaks by midday on Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Waterways posing the greatest threats included the Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri rivers.
The only good news is that it looks like the area is going to have a dry few days into the weekend, said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
Flooding in Arkansas has already closed 12 state highways, and 400 households have agreed to voluntary evacuations, said Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Rivers were expected to crest by early June to the highest levels on record all the way down to Little Rock, Arkansas, forecasters said.
More than 300 tornadoes have touched down in the Midwest in the past two weeks. Twisters pulverized buildings in western Ohio on Monday, killing one person and injuring scores.
In Louisiana, the Mississippi River was also at record flood levels due to record-breaking rainfalls this spring, forecasters said.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, Rich McKay in Atlanta, and Jonathan Allen and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)
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