Flooding a widespread disaster

While I sympathize greatly with the residents of Cairo, Ill., I must take issue with the statement that one resident made while being interviewed on a local television newscast.

There was much pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to blow the Birds Point levee in order to relieve the pressure of rising waters on not only Cairo but other cities on the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers as well.

The resident stated that they -- the people of Cairo -- were being treated like the 9th Ward of New Orleans.

I spent the majority of one day recently in Morehouse, Mo., helping relatives evacuate. When I arrived the water was ankle deep. By the time I left it was almost to my hip.

I found out the next day that two more relatives had to leave town and that the water had risen to four feet inside one of their houses.

I'm guessing it was due to the fact that MoDOT built a levee on the Morehouse side of U.S. 60 and failed to inform the residents.

CLINT LACY, Marble Hill, Mo.