Authorities warn of flooding along Little River

JAYWYE, Mo. (AP) -- Authorities in Southeast Missouri have been warning rural residents about flood risks along the Little River.

The New Madrid County Sheriff's Department said deputies and Missouri National Guard troops went to rural homes in the southwestern part of the county Tuesday telling residents to prepare to leave.

Flooding along the Little River would affect mostly farmland, but there are about a dozen scattered homes in the area. The sheriff's department says the town of Jaywye could also be affected.

The region is several miles southwest of the farmland swamped by the Mississippi River after the Army Corps of Engineers breached the Birds Point floodway levee.