Residents voice concerns about breaching Birds Point levee

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- As heavy rains pounded the region and floodwaters continued to rise Wednesday, another powerful force seemed to grip the residents of Mississippi and New Madrid counties: fear.

For now, they nervously await the decision of Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, who holds the power of the river over the lives of hundreds of farmers and residents in a 130,000-acre floodway.

Walsh, president of the Mississippi River Commission, took dozens of questions during a heated town meeting at the Creative School Zone in East Prairie, Mo., where more than 100 area residents expressed their concerns about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan to intentionally breach the Birds Point levee should the river rise too high.

"There's a lot of concern and rumors, and some of the rumors are creating panic" among some residents, said U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, of Cape Girardeau, who helped organize the meeting.

As of Wednesday afternoon, it was becoming increasingly likely the corps would have to "operate the plan," another way of saying detonating explosives at the fuse plugs of the system to relieve the swollen river. The plan effectively would sacrifice the tens of millions of dollars of property beneath the levee for the greater good of the millions of acres and people residing in the river valleys through the system.

"I recognize all of your livelihoods will be impacted, but when it gets to 61 feet, these levees have never been under this kind of pressure before," Walsh said.

The river gauge at Cairo, Ill., as of Wednesday afternoon was at 58.27 feet. If it hits 60.5 feet -- a level expected as early as Saturday -- the corps could be forced to breach the levee using explosives. Corps officials have begun setting the stage for detonation. A barge loaded with explosives was expected to arrive in the area Wednesday, with the U.S. Coast Guard escorting it and preparing for search and rescue mission in the event of a levy breach.

The battle at this point focuses on holding back as much water as possible. Walsh said division commanders on the Upper Mississippi and other major river feeders are doing all they can to reduce the flow in a furious campaign to take the pressure off the middle and lower portions of the river.

"We're all fighting for inches," he said.

Forecasts call for the river gauge at Cairo to remain at 60.5 feet or higher for eight to 10 days, putting what could prove to be an unsustainable amount of force on the Birds Point levee and creating a natural spill.

"That equates to about 2.5 million cubic feet per second of water coming down the river; that's a huge amount of pressure on a system that has not seen this type of pressure since we built it," Walsh said. Corps officials say the river is rising to points not seen, higher than the crippling floods of 1927 and '37.

"It seems to me the corps is going to give us up for a few inches," one East Prairie resident said.

Mistaken evacuation

While residents in the floodway were asked to prepare for evacuation Wednesday, a mandatory evacuation only goes into effect when the Cairo gauge hits 59 feet, officials say.

A premature evacuation caused confusion and some panic in Anniston, Mo., when National Guard military police mistakenly went door to door asking residents to leave their homes.

"I can tell you for a fact that that was an improperly drawn graphic, and those MPs acknowledged they were out of bounds," Col. Wendul Hagler of the Missouri Army National Guard's 70th Troop Command told the crowd after a woman said her wheelchair-bound mother was told of the incorrect evacuation order. "We are not advocating the evacuation of Wyatt, Wilson City or Anniston."

But the backwaters are devouring homes, farms and businesses in and around East Prairie and Charleston. More rain Wednesday added injury to injury.

Emerson was joined by Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, members of the Missouri Army National Guard, representatives from the corps and officials from Mississippi and New Madrid counties.

"We're doing everything possible to protect people, to protect property, to do everything possible to prevent the corps from ever having to operate the floodway," Emerson said. "This is not a political issue; it's a people issue."

Emerson, Gov. Jay Nixon and a chorus of Missouri politicians are critical of the corps' plan. Attorney General Chris Koster's office on Monday filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to stop the corps from breaching the Birds Point levee.

"I could go stand on the levee above the fuse plugs. You wouldn't want to blow me up," Emerson said, providing a lighter moment.

'The determining factor'

Jim Pogue, spokesman for the Memphis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the legal action isn't figuring into the corps' plans.

"We have to be driven by what the river is doing," he said. "That's the determining factor right now."

Mississippi County farmers fear the financial ramifications of the corps' plan, knowing their crop insurance won't cover a man-made breach, and there are no guarantees of reimbursement from the government. Sand and gravel damage would be the responsibility of the corps, but property owners would have to file claims, a corps official said.

Some fear the corps will leave the levee useless. Walsh pledged that he will use the authority and the funding he has to put the levee back, should it come to that.

East Prairie Mayor Kevin Mainord wants to take on the flood, noting he was in high school in 1973 when East Prairie residents used sandbags and muscle to stave off rising waters then. Walsh said sandbagging would do nothing at this point.

"You're not giving us a chance to save our livelihoods," said Mainord, who farms in the floodway.

Kinder questioned the "unwisdom" of operating the floodway, and posed concerns about the integrity of the setback levee, wondering if it had been tested to take on so much Mississippi River water. If the setback goes, he said, so goes Interstate 55 and Southeast Missouri's link to the commercial world.

"We're in a world of hurt. We're back 80 years or more in this economically distressed part of the state," Kinder said.

Corps officials said the setback levee, like other levies along the river, is in good shape.

Floodwaters continued to cause havoc throughout the region Wednesday. Parts of Sikeston, Mo., were underwater after the swollen St. John's Ditch overflowed its banks. The intersection of Missouri and Indiana avenues looked like a swimming pool, with water rushing over yards and rising to the level of decks at homes along Indiana and behind. A boater made his way down one of the side streets, and barricades blocked the entrances to several Sikeston streets.

Four-year-old Alanna Grace Jones bounced about in a pink raincoat, kicking at the murky water.

"We've been lucky, thank God," said Alanna's mother, Amanda Jones, noting her home at 202 Missouri Ave. so far had escaped any floodwater damage. Not so for many of her neighbors and fellow Sikeston residents.

mkittle@semissourian.com

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