LEVEES WEATHER NEW CREST

Levee officials along the Mississippi River in Alexander County, Ill., and Perry County, Mo., were breathing easier Monday after the Mississippi River crested at Cape Girardeau Saturday at 2 feet below the crest prediction of 34.1 feet.

The National Weather Service said the river at Cape Girardeau crested Saturday at 32.1 feet, one-tenth of a foot over flood stage. It remained stationary on Sunday.

On Monday the river here dropped to 31.2 feet. It was forecast to drop to 30 feet today, 29 feet on Wednesday, and 28.2 feet on Thursday.

The Ohio River at Cairo, Ill., was at 48.6 feet on Monday, 8.6 feet above flood stage. It was forecast to fall slightly the next three days: to 48.3 feet today, 48 feet on Wednesday, and 47.7 feet on Thursday.

The lower crest on the Mississippi was welcome news for the Illinois Department of Transportation and officials of the Len Small Levee District in the Fayville-Miller City area of Alexander County.

Work there is nearly complete on 10,000 feet of new levee that replaces a section of the lower end of the Fayville levee that breached during last summer's record-breaking flood on the Mississippi.

Because it is a private levee, the repairs are being done by the Illinois Department of Transportation instead of the Corps of Engineers under an agreement with the levee district.

Comer Phillips, assistant department resident engineer in charge of the levee construction, said work was able to continue through the weekend because of the lower crest.

He said: "The high water did force us to move back toward the Spillway Road to get our sand. We had been getting all of the sand on the front side of the levee. As the water starts to go down again it's going to uncover more sand. We're working 20 hours a day, two 10-hour shifts, seven-days-a-week."

Phillips said about 8,000 feet of the new horseshoe-shaped levee had been built as of Monday. He said the new levee begins at a point where it ties in with the existing Fayville levee and curves along the west side of a mile-long 80-foot-deep scour hole, to a point about 3,000 feet west of the Miller City blacktop road.

"We still have about 2,000 more feet of levee to build before we tie it in with the north end of the existing levee," he said. "If everything goes all right, we should get the job done in about two weeks."

Phillips said the levee, which is built of sand and some rock, is now at an elevation of 332 feet above sea level. The width of the levee at its base ranges from 130 to 300 feet.

Meanwhile, work on the new section of the Bois Brule levee in southeast Perry County was not affected by the high water over the weekend.

Bill Gidcomb of the St. Louis District Corps of Engineers and resident manager of the repair project, said the new section of levee has been built to a height of nearly 380 feet above sea level, or 43 feet on the Chester, Ill. gauge.

Officials are trying to complete repairs to both levees before the spring flood season begins later this month.