RELIEF: CREST IS REVISED DOWNWARD

The National Guard has been called out to assist the beleaguered town of Commerce as the surging Mississippi River on Tuesday threatened to cut off the lone remaining road into the Scott County community.

A security contingent of eight guardsmen was being deployed to Commerce to help prevent looting, said Glenn Greene, Scott County's emergency management director.

Greene said National Guard troops also were being called upon to build an emergency road to serve the town.

A spokesman for the 1140th Engineering Battalion in Cape Girardeau said late Tuesday afternoon that the battalion is assisting the sheriff's department in patrolling in the flooded area.

Durward Dover, Scott County's presiding commissioner, said he was told by a Guard major that road-building equipment and additional troops were rolling toward Commerce Tuesday afternoon. He did not know where the road-building crew was coming from. "Anywhere from Festus to Caruthersville," Dover said, quoting the Guard spokesman.

Weary flood workers and flood victims throughout the area received some good news late Tuesday morning.

The National Weather Service has revised its flood crest forecast for Cape Girardeau, lowering it from 47 feet to 45 feet. The river is still expected to crest at Cape Girardeau next Tuesday at 13 feet above flood stage. The rising river was at 44.5 feet on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, construction of a sandbag levee was nearing completion Tuesday afternoon in Dutchtown as floodwaters from the river-connected Diversion Channel continued their advance in Cape Girardeau County.

Highway 74, between Interstate 55 and Dutchtown, was flooded in two places.

The American Red Cross moved the shelter for flood victims to First Baptist Church, 926 Broadway, Tuesday afternoon.

The shelter had been operating at Lynwood Baptist Church while the air conditioning at First Baptist Church was being repaired.

National Weather Service hydrologist Jack Burns, whose weather service forecast office is in St. Charles, said forecasters at Slidell, La., lowered the flood crest at Cape Girardeau because of the levee breaks that have occurred the past 7 to 10 days along the Mississippi River north of Cape.

"The people at Slidell said another reason for the lower crest is that the large amount of floodwater coming down the river is gouging out and deepening the river bottom. That gives the river more capacity to handle a larger volume of water without going higher," Burns said.

If the river crests at 45 feet, it would be just under the all-time record flood crest at Cape Girardeau of 45.6 feet, which occurred on May 1, 1973.

With the muddy Mississippi continuing to swamp more streets and homes in Commerce, the Scott County Commission Tuesday morning declared a state of emergency.

Dover said the move allowed the county to call on the Guard, the Red Cross and other agencies for assistance.

"The people here can get federal disaster aid," said Greene.

Flood victims, he said, can seek assistance by contacting the Federal Emergency Management Agency at 1-800-462-9029.

He estimated the emergency road could be constructed in "a couple of days." The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department has provided culvert pipe for a ditch that the new road must cross.

Dover and other county officials visited the small town late Tuesday morning and met with Mayor Ann Huck.

She estimated that the flooding has affected about half the homes in the town of about 65 families.

Huck, whose house is surrounded by the flood waters, traveled by boat to meet with county officials to discuss construction of an emergency road.

Plans call for construction of a 320-foot long, 20-foot wide gravel road that would connect one of the town's inner streets with Highway E. As of Tuesday, the floodwaters were threatening to cut off the last city street connecting to Highway E.

Surveyors with R.M. Harrison & Associates in Cape Girardeau were out surveying the planned route Tuesday morning, while nearby floodwaters continued their relentless assault on streets and homes.

Huck and other members of the town board pleaded with Dover for county assistance in preventing looting and burglaries in the flood-ravaged community.

"It's bad enough, the water, and then the looters start breaking into your house," said board member Riley Mayberry.

Huck said there had been several burglaries in the flooded town.

Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell said his department would welcome National Guard assistance in trying to prevent looting and in keeping away sightseers.

He said regular and reserve sheriff's officers have been patrolling the Commerce area in last Thursday, particularly during the evening hours.

He said the officers have manned a roadblock to keep out sightseers. "We were requested to come down there by the mayor to turn around sightseers. We have had somebody down there every day," said Ferrell.

"We turned away about 300 cars Sunday," he said.

Town board member Roy Jones has already moved out his belongings. On Tuesday, floodwaters were encroaching on his yard. Jones said he took out federal flood insurance last Thursday.

Like many in Commerce, Jones was philosophical about the flooding. "They tried to dam it. They tried to lock it, but they can't control it," Jones said of the river, quoting Mark Twain.

At Dutchtown, the finishing touches were being put on a 4-foot-high sandbag levee along Highway 74 Tuesday afternoon. A short distance from the levee, floodwaters had surrounded several low-lying homes.

But behind the makeshift floodwall, everything was dry. "We are in fair shape," said Dutchtown resident Bill Geiser, who has been directing construction of the temporary levee since last Wednesday.

Geiser estimated that 1 million sandbags have been used in the flood-protection effort.

From now on, it's a waiting game, he said.

On Highway 25, near the junction with Highway 74 at Dutchtown, a state highway crew was hard at work constructing a temporary asphalt levee and using two pumps to keep water off the roadway.

At this point, it appears Highway 25 will be kept open to traffic, said Jim Russom, a highway department maintenance supervisor. "If nothing bends or breaks, we'll keep it open," he said.

Some information was provided by Staff Writer David Hente.