Corps organizes information center in Sikeston

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this hour is setting up a joint information center in Sikeston, Mo., and has tentatively scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m., according to a corps spokeswoman, although the timing has yet to be confirmed. Officials at the headquarters could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, a barge loaded with explosives was making its way from Memphis, Tenn., to Charleston, Mo., destined for the Birds Point levee as the ash gray sky prepares to unleash more heavy rains and a big decision hangs in the balance.

The Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday postponed its decision on a proposal to blow a huge hole in the levee, just downriver of the confluence. The procedure was put in place years ago as a desperate bid to reduce the amount of water moving down the Mississippi River, taking pressure off a soddened Cairo, Ill.

Mary Statum, a spokeswoman for the Corps of Engineers Memphis District, could not comment on whether a decision on breaching the levy had been reached this morning. She said corps officials met with the multistate Mississippi River Commission for several hours Tuesday but came to no conclusion.

"We're not going to make a decision until we have to," she said Tuesday. "It's nothing we want to just jump into. You don't take it lightly. We decided we can wait a little longer."

In Cairo, and Alexander County, the water keeps rising, as the hectic pace of sandbagging continues and a voluntary evacuation remains in effect.

Alexander County Sheriff's Department dispatcher Sheila Dodson said the worst of the flooding is hitting the small community of Olive Branch. The heavy rains forecast for today, Dodson said, will only add "insult to injury" to a water-logged county.

The Mississippi is expected to crest at Cape Girardeau on Friday about four feet lower than the record-setting amount in 1993. At Cairo, Ill., not too far from Birds Point, the Ohio is expected to set a record Friday, and it is already 17 feet above flood stage. Forecasts call for the river to rise by another four feet by Friday.

Look for updates at semissourian.com, and in Thursday's Southeast Missourian.

mkittle@semissourian.com

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