SANDBAGGING HALTS AS RIVER CONTINUES DROP

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Residents have quit sandbagging here for a while.

"A few people will continue to fill bags for storage," said Louis Maze, Alexander County Commissioner. "But we have about 120,000 filled bags stockpiled."

The National Guard was relieved of sandbagging duties this week following the fall of the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi dropped from 41.9 Sunday to 39.6 Monday morning at Cape Girardeau, with an expected decline to 38 feet Thursday and 33 feet Friday. The river is expected to drop below flood stage, 32 feet, this weekend. The river at Thebes also is forecast to drop below food stage, 33 feet, by Saturday.

"The Horseshoe Lake Spillway Road, and Miller City Road, from Olive Branch to Miller City, still had water over them Monday," said Maze. "But we're taking off security patrols and opening the two roads."

Maze added that the engineers' levee report Monday indicated that as soon as the river subsided and the weather permitted, work would resume on the Len Small ring levee.

The levee, which broke during the Great Flood of 1993 and was in late construction phases last week, broke again Friday when the Mississippi River rose past the 40-foot mark.

At that point, the Mississippi River had risen 16 feet in seven days.

The Len Small levee broke Friday with an 850 foot breech which quickly widened to 1,600 feet by midday, pouring water into Horseshoe Lake, and covering nearby roads.

More than 200 National Guard members joined numerous volunteers in sandbagging duties. Also helping were 80 work camp inmates provided by the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Gov. Jim Edgar has declared Alexander County a state disaster area as a result of the levee work and severe rainstorms which hit the area late last week. The state disaster assistance is being coordinated by the Illinois Emergency Management Center.

Meanwhile, the Ohio River is subsiding at a slower rate.

The Ohio crested at Cairo at 53.8 feet over the weekend and has dropped to 53.6 feet where it is expected to hover over the next few days.

The Ohio still is on the rise at Paducah, Ky., Brookport and Grand Chain, Ill., with a Friday crest date.