FLOOD BRINGS CURFEW

With the Mississippi River climbing, the Cape Girardeau County Commission declared a curfew for the flooded areas of the county. Friday night, residents ignoring barricaded roadways, levee systems or the Cape Girardeau floodwall were subject to arrest.

Missouri Highway Patrol troopers already were threatening to write tickets Friday afternoon to people who ignored barricades in the Dutchtown area.

At Dutchtown, dump trucks coordinated by the Corps of Engineers were pouring rock and gravel onto Highway 74 Friday afternoon for a makeshift levee.

A roll-out piece of plastic first was placed on Highway 74 between Dutchtown and the rising water. Then the rock and gravel were dumped onto the plastic and finally the plastic was pulled up as a barrier between the water and town.

Joe McDaniel of the Missouri Department of Highways and Transportation said Highway 74 was closed Friday and Highway 25 was being primed for closure.

"This is coming up fast," he said, "and it's quite a mess."

Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Larry Bock was supervising crews from the County Highway Department and Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan was tracking the water depths along the Diversion Channel. Both were lending a hand to Dutchtown residents.

Meanwhile, other residents of the Dutchtown area were filling sand bags as fast as they could and performing other tasks necessary to save their town from the rising water.

"They told us this was a hundred-year flood," said Carmen Propst as she walked to her post filling sandbags. "It's only been two years. What happened?," she asked, referring to the big flood of 1993.

Betty Badger was shoveling sand into bags Friday, but she doesn't live in Dutchtown. She said her father's Dutchtown home might be affected by the flooding so she pitched in and helped.

"I came down here and did this two years ago too, and I thought I should do it again. But I thought the one in '93 was a 100-year flood. I think whoever said that should be doing this."

The Mississippi River was expected to crest in Cape Girardeau Tuesday morning at 46.5 feet, said the National Weather Service in St. Louis. The stage Friday afternoon was 42.6 feet. Flood stage is 32 feet.

Meeting Friday were city and utility officials in Cape Girardeau.

"We like to get together and see what everyone is doing," city police Sgt. Carl Kinnison said. "It helps to open up the lines of communication. We will probably meet every day -- maybe with the exception of Sunday -- during the flood."

Kinnison said officials from all of the city's departments and representatives from Union Electric Co. sat down and discussed the flooding.

Emergency flood information numbers have been established in Cape Girardeau and the county: In Cape Girardeau call 334-3211 and in the county call 243-7703.

The bridge connecting Perry County and Chester, Ill., was partially closed Friday. Officials said half of the bridge was closed because water has overcome part of the bridge.

Water has begun to lap at the roadsides of Route 3 and 146 in Alexander County, Ill., Illinois State Police said.

More closures in and around Cape Girardeau are expected. Highway 177 is closed north of Cape Girardeau from near Bertling. Most of the Red Star District and extreme South Cape Girardeau are closed to traffic. Neither area is protected by the city floodwall.