No new levees, deeper channel offer solution

To the editor:

I was happy to see in Speak Out that someone is looking at the problems the Corps of Engineers have created by building more and higher levees on the Mississippi River.

Before the corps started these projects, we did not have the flooding in Allenville, Mo., that we have experienced in the last major floods of 1973, 1993, 1995 and this year.

In the 1940s and 1950s and into the 1960s, traffic at Dutchtown, Mo., on Highway 25 was diverted through Allenville to reconnect with the highway at Delta, Mo.

The Diversion Channel wasn't built to handle the overflowing Mississippi River. I believe channelization of the river has caused these problems.

Flooding problems should not be made worse by building another levee, which would help a few people but hurt many more. Think of the money and the homes that could be saved if the corps approached the flooding from another perspective, such as the lowering of the shipping channel on the Mississippi River.

MARY A. AMOS

Vanduser, Mo.