As river rushes into Mo. town, residents file out

WINFIELD, Mo. -- A makeshift barrier holding back the Mississippi River failed early Saturday, swamping the low-lying part of Winfield and ending a valiant but ultimately doomed battle against the surging river.

About 300 National Guard soldiers worked nearly 20 hours to try and build a levee around a cluster of 100 homes in the flood plain after the river ripped through the Pin Oak levee there early Friday. Officials were hopeful the barrier would keep the water at bay long enough for it to recede.

It didn't. Still, those in the community of 720 people said they won't forget the heroic effort to try and save the neighborhood.

"I figured it was a long shot," said Jan Fox, 50, who finally left her mobile home Friday night when her power went out. She called the show of support overwhelming.

"It was wonderful, all the people who came, the sandbaggers, the military," she said.

Around town on Saturday, gratitude for the last-ditch effort was mixed with a feeling of resignation. Many were ready to move forward.

At a Red Cross shelter at Winfield High School, the sound of hundreds of volunteers' shovels hitting sand and backhoes transporting sandbags had been a fixture for days. Saturday, the lot was largely quiet, while National Guard troops slept on cots inside after working through the night. A handful of residents, like Fox, began to make plans to stay with family or friends to wait out the river rise.

The new barrier had a steel frame with layers of dirt, plastic and sandbags. But water began seeping below and through around midnight, and it was clear in the hours before sunrise it was not going to hold.

Chris Azar of the Winfield-Foley Fire Department said at least 60 homes in the cluster were flooded