- More than 5,000 people have been evacuated on the Gulf of Mexico
- It is considered to pose a serious risk to several communities in the region.
- Will cause rivers to overflow and create flash floods and mudslides.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Environmental advocates in states along the Mississippi River have won a round toward a long-term goal of having federal standards created to regulate farmland runoff and other pollution blamed for the oxygen-depleted "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico and problems in other bodies of water.