FLOODING MAY CLOSE HIGHWAYS

Floodwaters Wednesday threatened to force the closing of sections of highways 25 and 51 in Southeast Missouri.

And plans to call on the National Guard to build an emergency road for the beleaguered Mississippi River town of Commerce fizzled.

National Guard officials indicated the Guard's equipment and manpower are already tied up dealing with broken levees along the river, Scott County Presiding Commissioner Durward Dover said late Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier, Dover thought he had assurances that the Guard would build an emergency road to connect with Highway E. Floodwaters are threatening to swamp the last street connecting to Highway E, the lone remaining road into the tiny town.

Dover said the engineering work has been done and the state highway department has provided culverts for the project.

It's uncertain if the county has the equipment and manpower necessary to build the emergency road, he said. "We might be able to strain and do it," he said.

Dover said he would meet with Scott County's other two commissioners today to discuss the situation.

Eight guardsmen have been deployed to Commerce to help patrol the flood-ravaged town. But they are not there for road-building work, officials said.

Town board member Roy Jones said he was disappointed the roadwork wasn't proceeding. "Commerce is pretty well a forgotten community,' he said.

In Cape Girardeau, the Main Street Levee District has leased a large generator from a company in St. Louis that will be used to run its pumping stations in the event of a power failure, said C.A. "Andy" Juden Jr., the levee district president. The generator was put on line Wednesday afternoon by levee district and Union Electric Co. employees, said Juden.

"We didn't want to wait until the power went out to wish we had it," Juden said.

The district must run pumps to rid downtown Cape Girardeau of stormwater when the river is high.

Health departments in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties have inoculated hundreds of flood victims and relief workers in recent days, providing free tetanus-diphtheria shots.

As to the roads, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department is fighting to keep Highway 25 at Dutchtown and Highway 51 in Perry County open in the face of the rising floodwaters.

The highway at Dutchtown is threatened by flooding from the nearby Diversion Channel, while the flood problem in Perry County is situated west of the Chester, Ill., Mississippi River bridge.

"It would appear with the latest prediction of a flood crest that (Highway) 25 could go under water and have to be closed," said Freeman McCullah, highway department District 10 engineer in Sikeston. The river at Cape Girardeau is scheduled to crest Wednesday at 46.5 feet, more than 14 feet above flood stage.

"It is nip and tuck," said McCullah. "In both cases, we are actually sandbagging the roads ourselves to keep them open to traffic."

He said road crews were working round-the-clock.

"It is now a day-to-day thing," he added. Highway 25 at Dutchtown may be closed to traffic by the weekend, he said.

In Cape Girardeau County, three roads remain impassable due to high water: Highway 74 at Dutchtown and Highway 177 and Route J north of Cape Girardeau. Sections of two state routes in Perry County, highways C and E, have been closed due to flooding, said McCullah.

In hard-hit Ste. Genevieve County, several state roads have been closed. Highway 61 is closed from Ste. Genevieve to St. Mary.