In this aerial photo, people use a canoe to navigate a flooded street, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Arnold, Mo. Surging Midwestern rivers forced hundreds of evacuations, threatened dozens of levees and brought transportation by car, boat or train to a virtual standstill Thursday in the St. Louis area. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
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ST. LOUIS (AP) - The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several water-logged communities to assess damage, clean up and figure out how to bounce back - or in some cases, where to live.
Farther south, things were getting worse: Record and near-record crest predictions of the Mississippi River and levee breaks threatened homes in rural southern Missouri and Illinois. Two more levees succumbed Friday, bringing to at least 11 the number of levee failures.
The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a three-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for 22 deaths. Searchers were still looking for five missing people - two teenagers in Illinois, two men in Missouri and a country music singer in Oklahoma.
Thomas Barnard removes the registration from fiancee Jessica Klick's 1995 Buick after floodwaters from the South Fork of the Sangamon River receded during a visit to the couple's home in Kincaid, Ill., Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. The car was almost completely submerged during the flooding. (David Spencer/The State Journal-Register via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
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Scott Fox, front, who decided it was time to leave his residence on Mississippi Boulevard, which was surrounded by water, paddles a boat with his friend Tony Watkins in Kimmswick, Mo., Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. Watkins was helping Fox come to shore. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
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Steven Schuck checks on his trailer as he takes a tour of the Starling Mobile Home Park where he lives in Arnold, Mo., Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. The park, which fronts the Meramec River, was evacuated late Wednesday. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
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Taylorville Fire Department Dive and Rescue Team members, from left, Jeff Stoner, Mike Mann and Nick Hackney search for two missing Christian County men, last seen Monday, while riding on a boat on the Sangamon River running through South Fork Township, Ill., Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. (David Spencer/The State Journal-Register via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
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