FLOODS CAUSE CROP DAMAGE

Flash flooding over the weekend caused crop damage along creek bottoms in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties and along the Mississippi River Diversion Channel.

"There is a lot of concern," said Gerald Bryan, University of Missouri extension agent in the Jackson office. "Some have had 400 to 500 acres under water. Damage could range from 25 to 50 percent in those areas."

Bryan said the flash flooding caused winter wheat damage by covering up some fields, by washing some out or by "laying over" the wheat. Unlike soybeans and corn, which can be replanted, ruined wheat is a total loss since harvest would normally occur within a few weeks.

Corn was 8-12 inches tall, said Bryan. Some corn got washed out, some was covered by silt and some will be affected by a disease called Crazy Top, in which the corn plant becomes merely a weed with no yield.

Bryan said that although it is already 15 days past late-planting dates, some of the damaged corn will be replanted. Planting so late, however, will result in lower yields, he said.

Bryan said that most soybeans will be all right. "Sunday's rain actually was somewhat beneficial," he said, "in that it cleaned the mud off the leaves of soybeans and some corn."

A few clear days will help now, Bryan said. "A combination of no rain and temperatures in the 70s will allow corn and beans to pop back up and get their roots re-established," he said. "But more rain would cause increased disease and nutrient loss."

Work on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge was disrupted minimally. "Recent weather conditions have slowed progress only during the actual rainstorms," said Angela Wilson, public affairs manager of the Southeast Missouri district of the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Wilson said the Department of Transportation is not currently involved in any earth work on the bridge project. The department, she said, is focusing on concrete work on Pier 2 and work on Pier 3 out in the river.