EAST CAPE: VOLUNTARY EVACUATION PUT TO CITIZENS

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- The 580 residents of this low-lying village have been assured their levee is in good shape ... but are being asked to leave their homes voluntarily.

The request, made during a town meeting Wednesday night, followed similar appeals earlier in the week to Illinois residents to the north in Grand Tower and Gorham.

Before an estimated 300 people packed into the sweltering Village Hall, city and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials said they are especially concerned about children and elderly residents.

"If my own children lived in this area, I would already have them out," said Bob Keller.

Keller is the Corps engineer in charge of the 127 miles of levees that include East Cape Girardeau, Preston, Miller Pond, Clear Creek and North Alexander.

"Basically, everybody here is at risk," said Chuck Bauman of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Residents were told they might have 20 minutes to half a day to evacuate their homes in the case of a levee breach. The Corps is confident the levee won't give way. If it does, 14 feet of water would cover the village.

In the event of a breach, Mayor Joe Aden said the village fire alarm will be sounded. Residents have been provided with a map of evacuation routes.

"Where would you go, how would you get out, where are the ones you love?" are the questions that need to be answered now, said Kenneth Jones, a civil engineer with the Corps.

"Things look pretty good right now. But we have to be aware that things could get out of hand."

Some fears and anger were evident at the meeting. One man shouted that he wanted to know exactly where the sandboils are appearing. Right now, an area in McClure behind the El Patio Lounge is the most worrisome spot, Keller said.

Another man angrily complained about not being able to use blacktop roads to haul sandbags, and was told the roads are becoming "spongy."

"...If we lose our roads we cannot get whatever we need to where we need it," said Bud Collier, a levee district commission who has led the effort to bolster the levee.

He asked residents to sign up to be on call day or night in case a sandboil the biggest breach danger appears. Sixteen did.

One man suggested the Corps consider using dynamite on the south end of the levee to release the pressure. "We in the Corps of Engineers do not blow levees," Keller said, provoking a laugh and breaking the tension.

Both Keller and Jones, who is with the Corps' Vicksburg, Miss., office, said the East Cape Girardeau levee is sound.

After the meeting, Jones said, "Every foot is looked at probably 20 times a day."

Alexander County Sheriff Buddy Mitchell assured those who do leave that their houses and businesses will be patrolled by boat if necessary.

Residents also were told that school probably won't open as scheduled Aug. 19.

An unseen part of the flood relief job is batting down rumors, said Gil Churchill of the Jonesboro-based Tri-County Flood Information Center. He estimates that 30-40 pop up each day.

"Rumor control" is one of the main reasons the meeting was held, Aden said.

"If we believed every rumor that's been spread we would not be sitting here right now."