People in Dutchtown race against the river

Volunteers were racing the clock -- and the river -- Sunday afternoon in Dutchtown as they filled sandbags to hold back an impending flood.

On Sunday morning, the National Weather Service predicted the Mississippi River would crest Thursday at 42 feet at Cape Girardeau.

Bud Smith, chairman of the town board in Dutchtown, said volunteers at a makeshift staging area near the intersection of Missouri highways 74 and 25 had filled about 7,000 sandbags -- far from the number needed to protect the community.

"We need about 15 times this many," he said. "We're trying to get before it, because the floodwater's coming by Thursday. By tomorrow morning, it'll start coming in the culverts right here. We worked on it all day yesterday, and we'll probably be working on it until the day of the flood."

Breanna Williams, bottom, holds an empty sandbag at the bottom of a cone as Christna Riegert adds shovel full of chat rock to be funneled into the sandbag, Sunday, April 21, 2013 in Dutchtown. Kevin Craft, center, and Lance Neier fill sandbags alongside Riegert. (Laura Simon)

Smith said volunteers would begin at Highway A and stack sandbags along Highway 74 for about one-half to three-fourths of a mile.

"They'll close this highway down when it starts flooding, and we'll build a levee right in the middle of the highway," Smith said.

During the last flood, more than 100 volunteers turned out to help, he said.

"We needed every one of them," Smith said. "Right now, we've got about 15, so that tells you we're running kind of short."

Dutchtown is no stranger to flooding.

"We've had our houses under water more than once out here," Smith said. "We're trying to get a buyout, but you know how slow the government moves."

Volunteer Julie Parmer, who owns three properties in Dutchtown, moved to higher ground in 2011, but she still has family members and a business in town. She said a 2008 flood destroyed 8.5 tons of personal possessions.

"Everybody lost a lot of stuff," she said. "It's not just the stuff; it's the memories. I lost all my mom's stuff. [It] can't be replaced; kids' homemade Christmas ornaments ... all that."

Parmer praised the work of volunteers from Cape Girardeau-based Teen Challenge International of Mid America, who helped Saturday.

"They're great young men," she said. "I guess they filled a couple thousand sandbags."

While other volunteers worried that their efforts would be insufficient to hold back the water, Eric Lindsay of Dutchtown was philosophical.

"If we build it up this year, and it floods, we're that much closer to getting it to a point where one day it won't," he said.

Anyone who would like to help with the sandbagging effort can call Dutchtown board member Shirley Moss at 450-4720.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Highway 74 and Highway 25, Dutchtown