AREA LEVEES IN GOOD SHAPE, SAYS CORPS; UE WORKS TO PROTECT VIADUCT CENTER

Levees along the bloated Mississippi River in the area are in good shape, although most of them have had water against them since late March.

The levee situation looked better after Sunday when the Coast Guard closed the final stretch of the upper Mississippi River between Cairo, Ill. and St. Louis to prevent wave damage by towboats.

Closing means the entire 535-mile stretch of the upper Mississippi from Cairo to St. Paul, Minn., is now closed to barge traffic and boaters.

The National Weather Service has not changed its earlier prediction for a record flood crest of 47 feet at Cape Girardeau on July 20. The river here was expected to reach 43.9 feet Monday, and is expected to hit 44.3 feet today, 44.5 feet Wednesday, 44.6 feet Thursday.

If it continues to rise, it will reach the record crest of 45.6 feet, set May 1, 1973, late this weekend or early next week.

The Ohio at Cairo was at 41 feet on Monday. It is forecast to rise to 41.4 feet today and crest at 44.5 feet (4.5 feet above flood stage) on July 22.

The weather service said the Missouri River will crest at St. Charles on May 16, while the flood crest on the Mississippi will pass Grafton, Ill., a day later. The combined crests are now expected to pass St. Louis on May 18, with a flood crest there of 45 feet.

The Corps of Engineers said a private, agricultural levee on the east side of Powers Island, which is south of Commerce, broke Sunday morning, flooding an estimated 6,000 acres of farmland on the island. However, the Corps said the main levee, which is set back from the river on the west side of Powers Island Chute, is in good condition.

Richard Delk, spokesman for the Corp's Memphis District Emergency Operations Office in Cape Girardeau, said: "The private levee broke around 3 a.m. Sunday. The 200-foot break occurred about one mile up from where the levee ties in at the south end of the island," "At last report, the break was about 200 feet wide.

"As far as we can determine, the levee was not overtopped and the failure was not due to any sand-boiling effect."

With the exception of that levee, Delk said other Memphis District levees south of Cape Girardeau, including the Little River Drainage District's Diversion Channel levee, are in good condition.

"We do have a few sandboils inside the Diversion Channel levee district between the Nash Road industrial area and Rockview but they're not creating any problems, and the same thing occurred in the floods of 1973 and 1983," said Delk. "The seep wells that were drilled several years ago along the levee are flowing nicely and relieving water pressure along the interior edge of the levee. In fact, I had one farmer tell me over the weekend that with the exception of some damp spots, he's been able to keep on plowing his fields. The ditches are carrying the seep water southward into our larger ditches, which empty into the St. Francis River in the Bootheel."

Delk said the Burlington Northern Railroad was preparing to close the only gap in the levee, just south of the BN's Diversion Channel railroad bridge, west of the Nash Road industrial complex.

"Right now, we're patrolling the entire levee, watching for any rodent or beaver damage that would weaken or threaten the levee, and watching out for any other potential problems," he said.

Meanwhile, Bill Busch of the Corps' St. Louis District project office at Cape Girardeau, said all St. Louis District levees in his jurisdiction are "in pretty good shape." The Cape Girardeau office oversees levee districts as far north as Cora, Ill., and Ste. Genevieve, and as far south as Miller City, Ill.

Busch said Corps officials were scheduled to meet today in Wolf Lake with representatives of the "Big Five" (Preston, Miller Pond, North Alexander, Clear Creek, and East Cape Girardeau) levee districts that extend from the south bank of the Big Muddy River to Gale, Ill., to discuss plans for a floodfight.

"We have seepage problems in some spots along the Big Five levees, but the relief wells are running and relieving the pressure on the levees," he said. "However, it is adding to the surface water inside the levee districts," said Busch.

"The biggest threat to levees are rodents and groundhogs and sandboils. The Corps and the levee districts are watching for any damage caused by animals, and for the sandboils. Where they occur, we're sandbagging around the rim. As long as the water from the boils is clear, everything is alright. It's when the water comes up muddy that we get concerned."

Busch said most of the attention over the weekend was focused on the Ste. Genevieve No. 2 "Big Field" levee that protects farmland along the river between Ste. Genevieve and Kaskaskia Island. "As of this morning, the levee at the northern end was still holding," he said Monday.

Busch said the Perry County Levee, across from Chester, Ill., is in pretty good shape. The levee protects farmland and the town of McBride and Highway 51 between Perryville and Chester. Busch said the levee is being patrolled day and night. "There are some soft spots we're watching. Both of the pump stations in the district are pumping out seep water," he reported.

"We're also providing technical assistance in the Miller City levee work, where they're raising the north end of the levee to prevent it from being overtopped by the river."

State and county workers are hauling silica rocks and gravel onto the Miller City levee five miles west of Olive Branch to raise the north end above the forecast flood crest.

"We've raised the levee about a foot and a half," said Louis Maze, an Alexander County commissioner. "We've hauled more than 1,000 loads into the area.

"We have more trucks working now, and we may have to go to 24 hours a day," he said. "We're sending some of the trucks into the Thebes area, where we're trying to save the pumping station by using sandbags."

Busch said the Miller City levee was designed for a 45-foot flood crest. They hope to raise it two feet to hold back the 47-foot crest next week.

"One good thing in our favor is the Ohio River," he said. "It's not as high as the Mississippi, so its not backing up the Mississippi. When the Ohio at Cairo, is between 48 and 49 feet, it starts to back up water in the Mississippi as far north as Thebes."

Busch said the Corps' Cape Girardeau office is now open 24-hours a day with a beefed-up staff of about 30 people. "At last count, we have handed out about 350,000 sandbags and plastic sheeting to levee districts, municipalities and individuals."

While the Corps keeps an eye on the main levees along the river, other interests are working to complete smaller levees to protect businesses, and in some cases vital utilities.

Workers were expected to complete work on a permanent levee built in less than a week around Union Electric Co's Viaduct Court distribution center in south Cape Girardeau.

The center receives electricity from three 161,000-volt transmission lines that come in from power plants in Southern Illinois, Arkansas and the St. Louis area, and distributes the electric power to Cape Girardeau and other cities in UE's Southeast Missouri District.

"We started work on the levee last Thursday, as soon as we received word of the 47-foot crest on the river," said UE spokesman A.D. Cox. "The top of the levee will protect our center to a crest of 48 feet, and it is designed to add another two feet, if needed."

Cox said during the flooding of 1973, 1983, and 1986, a sandbag levee was built around the distribution center. "Because of the unusual height of the flood crest this time, we decided to build a levee this time," he said.

Cox said the Viaduct Court center is vital to UE's operations in Southeast Missouri.

"If we lost the center to high water, we could switch some of the load around, but with the summer heat right now we might have some problems carrying some of the commercial load," he explained. "We have also taken measures to protect our switching station that's located just west of the distribution center. We have installed Plexiglas over the control panels on our circuit breakers."

Work was also going on Monday to raise a part of the earthen levee that protects the Lone Star Cement plant in South Cape Girardeau. John Burian, director of operations, said the levee was constructed in 1983. It is being raised in some low spots to protect the plant.

Burian said the closure of the Mississippi River between Cairo and St. Louis on Sunday halted all shipments of finished cement to Lone Star's terminal in Memphis. "Our St. Louis terminal is already under water," he said.

"We did get three barge loads of cement out on Sunday before the river was closed," he said. "They are going to our terminal in Memphis. Because the rail line between St. Louis and Memphis is also cut, we are no longer shipping cement from the Cape plant."

Burian said the plant will continue operating despite the river and rail shutdown.

Burian said the flooding will not affect employees at the cement plant. He said, however, some jobs may be switched around and employees will also be working "flood watch" to keep an eye on the levee.