PERRY COUNTY LEVEE BREAKS; TOWNS EVACUATED AS RIVER RUSHES IN

McBRIDE, Mo. Residents of the tiny community of McBride, located about six miles north of Perryville, scrambled to remove what belongings they could from their homes Sunday afternoon in the wake of an early-morning levee breach about eight miles away.

They had much more time to evacuate than residents of neighboring Belgique, two miles nearer the water's path in the Perry County lowlands.

Severe seepage beneath the Bois Brule levee located 11 miles south of the Chester Bridge on the Missouri side of the river caused the 300-foot breach near the south end of the levee at approximately 2:45 a.m. Sunday.

Two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers workers were patrolling the levee when it gave way. One escaped unhurt.

The truck driven by the other was caught in the current and was hurled down the Missouri side of the levee. Then the truck was caught by an undertow in the current and drawn back toward the breach.

The worker, Harold Smith, 52, of Creal Springs, Ill., managed to escape onto the levee as the truck was swept away.

"He was backing up when the ground collapsed underneath the back of his truck," said Jack Lakenan, director of the Perryville/Perry County Emergency Management Agency. "They were able to rescue him from the levee after he climbed to safety."

Smith was taken to Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. Corps of Engineers spokesmen said he was in satisfactory condition and under observation.

After officials confirmed the levee was breached early Sunday, the race was on to clear the remaining residents in the flood plain from their homes.

About two dozen families were still living there, despite a "voluntary evacuation" notice issued a week and a half ago with the closing of the Chester Bridge.

"When we received word that the river would reach a record 46 feet at its crest, we warned people in the area that the levee might not hold," he said.

"They knew that if worse came to worse, they were going to have to leave at a moment's notice. Many had already left; we had a list of those who had stayed behind, hoping the river would not breach the levee."

Perryville City Police and the Perry County Sheriff's Department dispatchers called those known to be still in their homes. "Those we couldn't reach, we sent patrol cars by to wake them up and get them out," Lakenan said.

National Guard helicopters and U.S. Coast Guard boats quickly moved into the area to help with the evacuation.

"That over there that roof that's our barn," said one woman surveying the rising waters Sunday afternoon, pointing to a tin-roof just visible over the floodwaters. "We knew this was going to happen the river was just too high for that levee to hold.

"I've never seen it like this before," she continued. "So much water."

The woman walked away toward a dilapidated pickup truck parked along the side of Highway 51. She refused to give her name.

The breach has affected about 28,000 acres of farmland and the homes of 90 families and businesses, Lakenan said.

"In a couple of days, it's just going to be one big lake down here."

When the land behind the levee fills, the "lake" which will form will be 18-21 feet deep at the southern end, and 8-12 feet deep at the northern side.

By 11 a.m. Sunday, only residents of McBride remained in the flood plain. About that time, the water crossed Highway 51, which led to the Chester Bridge.

By 2 p.m., the breach had widened to about 1,000 feet, leaving only rooftops of farm buildings visible to the south of the flooded Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation, which makes popcorn and cereal.

About 2,000 people in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois are employed at the Gilster-Mary Lee plant. The plant produces about 15,000 cases of microwave popcorn daily.

There was no official word Sunday on the extent of water damage to the building and machinery, or if and when the plant will open its doors again.

"Gilster tried to move out what they could early this morning," Lakenan said. "They weren't expecting this but how do you prepare for 20-foot waters?"

Waters encroached upon the Sabreliner Corporation, near the Perryville Municipal Airport Sunday. Lakenan said some water had reached the plant, but the nearby airport remained above the floodwaters Sunday afternoon.

Lakenan said it was better that the levee was breached at the far south end because the water then "backed-up" into the flood plain. If the levee had broken at the north end, the waters would have roared into the area with a devastating effect, giving emergency workers much less time to evacuate.

"Another plus is that the levee at Prairie DuRocher (Ill.) broke about the same time," Lakenan said. "That's relieving some of the pressure of the river; waters are rising more slowly."

Standing on the remnants of Highway 51, near the partially-submerged Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. plant, curious sightseers could actually watch the river rise.

Frogs, mice, rats, snakes and other wildlife were caught between the rising floodwaters and a mass of onlookers on the highway, confused as to which way to go.

Three Coast Guardsmen arrived shortly after 2 p.m. from Ste. Genevieve with a single John-boat all that could be spared from the historic city battling a duly historic river stage.

The Coast Guardsmen were told to double-check residences within the levee area to ensure that all residents were evacuated.

By 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the town of McBride was under water.

Corps of Engineers workers continue to patrol the levee, monitoring its stability.

"We don't need another breach," Lakenan said. "If the water starts moving fast, we'll end up with all kinds of damage."

"...The truly dangerous thing about this is that the Mississippi River could quite conceivably change its course due to this breach," Lakenan said. "That's what happened in the 1800s it's not so impossible with this much water that it could happen again."

A Corps of Engineers spokesman said the Bois Brule levee was designed to hold back floods which normally occur once in 50 years. The design level of protection was exceeded by the current flood, which is expected to occur once in 100 years.

Tremendous water pressures from record flood levels lasting an unprecedented length of time are causing the levee failures, a Corps spokesman said. Compared to the last record flood in 1973, water levels are now 4 feet higher and have lasted nine days longer, with no end in sight.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, the river stage at Chester, Ill., was 45.7 feet and falling, due to the breach. The National Weather Service said river stage readings will fluctuate in the next few days because of levee breaches from Iowa to Sunday's breach south of Chester.

The river stage in Cape Girardeau fell to 46.1 feet Sunday, also because of the breach.

Rainfall in the Midwest north of Hannibal is expected to push the river to a new crest at by Aug. 3, after the stage falls a few inches from Friday's crest.