19 levees along the Mississippi monitored as flooding threatens to break records in Midwest

Nineteen vulnerable levees along the Mississippi have been flagged for monitoring as flooding continues to threaten large swaths of Illinois and Missouri, The Washington Post reports. The water levels are expected to tie the worst flood on record in the region, matching the 49.7 feet the Mississippi reached in 1993 outside of St. Louis. In fact, the water levels are rising so fast that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon warned the Midwestern flood could still break records. So far, 13 people have been killed as a result of the unseasonably heavy rain in the states.

"The vast majority of deaths we have had, and I can't stress this enough, is of people driving into water, and especially driving into water at night," Nixon said.