Corps: River levels rise slower than predicted, may negate need for intentional breach

Detonating the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County is off the table -- for now, anyway.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a corps official says, is in a "holding pattern" for the time being, thanks in large part to rising floodwaters that aren't rising as high and as fast as originally forecast.

"We're taking a step back from the brink and watching this real closely," said Jim Pogue, spokesman for the Memphis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps' plan to alleviate flow in some of the feeding river systems appears to be paying dividends, Pogue said.

"In Kentucky, they have cut back flows to near zero [in some places], and that's helping" he said.

Residents who live in the 133,000-acre floodway remain anxious, knowing unleashing the floodwaters would destroy their homes, farms and livelihood, and that it could take years to recover from the loss. The corps argues the flood relief plan, long on the books, would sacrifice a small region to save millions of acres and possibly many lives from uncontrolled flooding.

On Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, president of the Mississippi River Commission, took some heated questions in East Prairie, Mo., where more than 100 area residents gathered, many expressing their anxiety and frustration over the corps' plan.

The river gauge at Cairo, Ill., as of 1 p.m. today was at 58.79 feet. It was expected to hit 60.5 feet by this weekend, an unprecedented and dangerous level. Such a sustained volume of water could force the corps to breach the levee. Corps officials have begun setting the stage for detonation. A barge loaded with explosives arrived in the area Wednesday.

A federal judge was expected to decide today on Attorney General Chris Koster's motion to block the corps from implementing the breach plan.

Look for updates on the 2011 floods at www.semissourian.com/flood2011 and in Friday's Southeast Missourian.

mkittle@semissourian.com

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