Fecal soup’ could be lurking in Iowa floodwaters, health experts warn WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio [Video]

DES MOINES, Iowa — Health experts are warning of the possibility of floodwaters containing “fecal soup” after an agriculture-heavy region in Iowa was inundated with an unprecedented amount of precipitation.

Torrential rain began falling in the Midwest last week, prompting road closures, evacuation orders, helicopter rescues and failure at some water treatment plants, according to officials.

But as the floodwaters fail to recede — and more rain on the way threatens to extend the flood event — residents in several counties in northwest Iowa are being advised to find alternative water sources, as the precipitation likely caused overflows or breaches in the manure storage basins designed to contain the waste produced by the millions of farm animals within the region’s agriculture industry, Alicia Vasto, director of water programs for the Iowa Environmental Council, told ABC News.

The five counties most affected by the floodwaters and at most risk of being …