MoDOT increases efforts to keep water off I-55

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Despite a relatively dry four days, backwater from St. Johns Bayou is still inching up along a two-mile stretch of Interstate 55, worrying Missouri Department of Transportation officials even as they step up efforts to keep the critical highway open to traffic.

On Thursday, crews again added to the layers of sandbags that run from mile markers 58 to 60, about 10 miles south of Sikeston in New Madrid County. Two crews of about 12 worked in 85-degree heat to help ensure the waters don't disrupt what is perhaps the most critical piece of infrastructure in a region still grappling with historic flooding.

"Our water is still coming up," said Eric Krapf, the department's transportation project manager who oversees Southeast Missouri's interstates. "There's been no outflow in the St. Johns basins, and it continues to fill up. We haven't had rain in days and it's still inching right up on us."

Last week, the sandbags ran 2,000 linear feet, but by Thursday that total had been increased to 6,000 feet. Four pumps continue to struggle to drain a submerged median and to dry out water that is sits along both sides of the highway. In spite of the department's efforts, places in the highway there are soggy -- though not flooded -- and a fine layer of silt rests in a few muddy spots.

Water is seeping under the sandbags in some areas and the road is wet enough that vehicles exchange a fine mist with each other as they pass. In the southbound lane, traffic has been reduced to one lane for close to the length of the two miles for nearly a week.

Officials were hopeful that pumps at New Madrid provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to send water back to the Mississippi River would ease pressure on St. Johns and hurry the draining process. While the corps had originally promised as many as 22 48-inch pumps, the corps ultimately acquired only five 18-inch pumps.

Sandbags and water pumps work to keep flash flooding waters away from Interstate 55 between mile markers 58 and 60 south of Sikeston, Mo., on Thursday, May 12, 2011. (Kristin Eberts)

That's not enough to make a significant difference, said Bill Robison, MoDOT's Southeast District manager.

"The corps did not come through with the big 42-inch pumps," Robison said. "We're not seeing a huge impact from the pumps they did send yet. Larger pumps and a larger number of pumps would have helped more to get the water down."

Flood protection gates at New Madrid are the real problem, both Robison and Krapf said. The gates have been closed to keep the river's water from getting in, but they also keep the St. Johns from getting out.

The river at New Madrid was at 45.95 at 4 p.m. Thursday. Flood stage is 34 feet in New Madrid.

"We're hoping we can hold it off for about another seven days," Krapf said. "The corps is predicting the river will fall enough to open those gates in another five days. Once they're open, it will take a couple days for us to see any difference."

But Krapf said he is optimistic that MoDOT will be able to keep the water off the interstate, allowing the roughly 20,000 to 30,000 cars that use it there to continue to pass. Forecasts call for thunderstorms and showers over the next week in the Sikeston area, but Krapf said he doesn't believe they will get enough to force I-55 to close.

"We're holding our own," he said. "Depending on how much rain we get, I think we'll be OK."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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