PERRY COUNTY GETS FUNDS FOR LEVEE

McBRIDE -- With the flooded interior of the Bois Brule Levee District as a backdrop, Rep. Bill Emerson Friday announced a nearly $6 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to repair a breached levee near McBride.

The congressman said that failure to repair the levee immediately would deliver a severe blow to the region's economy.

"To put the cost of the levee repair into proper perspective: If the farmers in the district cannot get a crop in next spring, the economic loss to Perry County next year will be around $14 million," Emerson said. "And that's just the impact on agriculture if this levee is not repaired."

Emerson said Gilster-Mary Lee, Sabreliner and other industries affected by the flood are paying $180,000 daily in transportation costs due to the flooded Highway 51 that connects to the Chester, Ill. bridge over the Mississippi.

"You can see the $5-6 million it will cost to repair and close the levee is really pretty cheap compared to the millions of dollars that will be lost if it is not done," he said.

Emerson said the Corps' cost-to-benefit ratio for the levee project "far exceeds any standards that exist.

"It is a must-do project," he added.

State Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau said prompt repair of the levee and the industries damaged by the flood will stay the loss of jobs for residents on both sides of the river.

"What's on line here are jobs and the economic life of Perry County," Kinder said.

A section of Bois Brule levee was breached by the Mississippi River during the height of this summer's flood, inundating about 27,000 acres of farmland in east Perry County. The floodwater also damaged farm houses and outbuildings and two major industries near the Perryville Municipal Airport.

Congressman Emerson said that through an agreement between the Bois Brule Levee District and the Corps of Engineers, a temporary rock levee will be erected about 2,000 feet back from the breach in the existing earthen levee.

Corps officials said Friday that the force of floodwater created a "scour hole" at the breach that's 50 feet deep, 7,000 feet long and 1,000 feet wide.

Mark Alvey, project manager for the Corps' St. Louis district office, said the temporary levee will be built to allow the floodwater now inside the levee district to continue to drain as the river falls below flood stage this month.

Once the water drains, a permanent earthen levee, 450 feet wide, will be built along the river side of the temporary dike.

Alvey said the new section of levee will protect to a flood elevation of 375 feet above sea level, or about 40 feet on the Chester gauge.

"Work on the temporary rock fill levee will begin near each end of the breached section of levee and work toward the middle," Alvey said. "By the time the contractor reaches the middle, we hope the river will have fallen enough so that all of the water has drained out of the interior of the levee district. At that time, the rock fill levee will be closed.

"This will hold back any new floodwater if the river should come up again later this fall or winter," he added. "It also will reduce or prevent the need for expensive pumping operations."

The levee district will provide easements for the new section of levee and other in-kind services. Levee district officials said about 140 acres of land near the breach will be sacrificed in order to build the new section of levee.

Work on the temporary levee is expected to start within weeks and be completed in December, weather and river permitting.