President George W Bush has arrived in the US state of Iowa for a tour of the areas affected by the recent severe flooding in the region.

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President Bush's fellow Republican, presidential candidate John McCain, has also been visiting the region.

Mr McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama, made visits to flooded parts of neighbouring Illinois this week.

'Resilient'

As many as 30 more levees could overflow this week, officials say, threatening industrial and agricultural areas vulnerable but leaving large population hubs unaffected.

So far this week, 20 levees have been breached.

Residents in the affected areas have been busy laying sandbags to bolster the existing flood defences.

"There's one thing about Midwesterners," said Don Giltner, mayor of Louisiana, Missouri, one of the towns affected by the floods.

"We're resilient as hell. We're all worn out. We've put in a lot of long days."

Some 700 members of the National Guard have been deployed in Missouri to assist in the defence efforts, while in Illinois, 1,100 National Guard troops have been helping out.

In Washington, lawmakers debated a bill which contained an additional $2.65bn (£1.4bn) to top up the government's disaster relief fund.

Iowa Governor Chet Culver has said he expects his state to receive at least $2 billion in government aid, with other affected states also expected to be in need of federal assistance.

Observers said the eventual cost of the disaster could end up matching that of the 1993 Midwest floods that caused more than $20bn (£10bn) worth of damage.

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(BBC)

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