Adam Allington

Updated 12:29 p.m. April 29:

Via the Associated Press:

Missouri officials are appealing a federal judge's ruling that says the Army Corps of Engineers can break a levee and flood Missouri farmland if necessary to spare an Illinois town upstream.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. ruled Friday that the corps' plan to breach the Birds Point levee is appropriate to ensure flood-control along the Mississippi. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis a short time later.

The Missouri State Auditor's office is reviewing a reimbursement payment Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder made earlier this week.

Kinder wrote a personal check for $52,320 - up from the $35,050 he initially said he would reimburse the state.

Kinder has said all of the travel and associated costs were for legitimate state business.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are on the ground in St. Louis to assess the damage from last week's tornadoes. Their findings will be part of Missouri's request for Federal assistance.

FEMA investigators are gathering data on a variety of factors-including the number of displaced people, effects on the local economy, and how much property was uninsured.

Josh DeBerg is a spokesperson for FEMA. He says the main criteria for federal aid boils down to a question of resources.

Forecasters say major flooding is a possibility as the region braces for heavy rainfall over the next five days.

Mark Fuchs is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service.

He says melting rain and ice from northern states combined with localized rainfall is creating flood conditions from near the Iowa state line in Canton, Mo. all the way south of St. Louis.