Corps of Engineers will build levee at Dutchtown

DUTCHTOWN, Mo. -- Water from the Mississippi River Diversion Channel flowed across a 300-foot section of the Highway 74 Monday, causing motorists to slow down and drive through 8 to 12 inches of standing water if they wanted to get from Cape Girardeau to Dutchtown.

The Missouri Department of Transportation closed the stretch of road right outside Dutchtown, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to build a temporary levee to keep the flood from spreading any farther. By the late afternoon, the entire section of Route 74 from Interstate 55 to Route 25 was closed.

"We're about to go into phase two of flood fight," said Bob Anderson with the Memphis District of the Corps of Engineers. "All that rain was more than we anticipated, and we've had to revise our forecast. It's coming up higher than we thought, so we're going go ahead and start construction."

Anderson said the Corps of Engineers usually moves into phase two, which involves more intensive monitoring of levees, floodwalls and pumping stations, whenever the river reaches 44 feet. In Cape Girardeau, the Mississippi River was at 41.9 feet Monday.

Anderson said the time to build the levee is now because the forecast shows a crest of 46 feet on Sunday.

"We're trying to get all of the contracts let in a fast manner so we can get started," Anderson said. He said construction will start by Wednesday and take 48 hours to complete.

Imogene Dumey lives on the south side of the highway and to the west of the closed area.

"It's heart-sickening," she said.

Randy Stroup, a friend of Dumey, helped barricade Dumey's home and a neighbor's home with sandbags Monday. The neighbor is in St. Louis having surgery and won't be able to protect the home from the flood.

"I don't know if we'll have enough manpower to save both houses," Stroup said. "You hate to lose a house for just a foot of water, but what do you do?"

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128