Mandatory evacuation in Mississippi County; National Guard going door-to-door in spillway

Mississippi County Sheriff Keith Moore has asked the Missouri Army National Guard to activate a mandatory evacuation for residents of the spillway beneath the Birds Point New Madrid levee, according to a spokeswoman for the Mississippi County Sheriff's Department.

"They are going door to door to each residence in the spillway. Everybody needs to be out," said Mississippi County deputy Janice McCameron. "We need to get them out of there for their own protection."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the sheriff's department confirm the evacuation has nothing to do with the corps' plan to detonate the levee should the river gauge at Cairo rise to 61 feet.

As of this hour, the corps' plan to breach the Birds Point levee remains on hold, according to corps spokesman Jim Pogue.

The Corps decided Friday afternoon to hold off on making the call to blow the levee.

Friday morning, the gauge was at 59 feet, and emergency management officials have said that is the point where a mandatory evacuation would be in force.

McCameron said SEMO Electric Co-op will make a decision on cutting off power to the spillway by 5 p.m., but she said it appears likely that the utility will shut off power. A co-op official could not be reached for comment.

There are about 100 homes, 300 residents and dozens of farms in the spillway, covering some 133,000 acres. McCameron said most of the residents have already left. At this hour, she said Guard members and emergency personnel were assisting in removing livestock.

Meanwhile, The state of Missouri has appealed a federal judge's ruling giving the Army Corps of Engineers the go-ahead to break the levee and flood Missouri farmland.

On Friday, a day after hearing five hours of testimony, U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. found the corps' plan to breach the Birds Point levee appropriate to ensure navigation and flood-control along the Mississippi. A short time later, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

The corps has proposed using explosives to blow a two-mile-wide hole through the levee in Southeast Missouri's Mississippi County, to ease waters rising around the upstream town of Cairo, Ill., near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, as well as dozens of communities covering millions of acres down river that could be impacted by an uncontrolled breach.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627