Still fighting the flood

The Great Flood of 2011 has not gone away, even though the water has gone down in Southeast Missouri.

The flood's stench still sours the Mississippi County floodway south of Birds Point where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers one month ago Thursday destroyed the levee that protected thousands of acres of fertile farm land. The decision of course was not an easy one, but done in order to relieve pressure upriver, including the town of Cairo, Ill. But it wasn't just Cairo that was spared. Longtime residents in Cape Girardeau said they had never seen a river flood drop so fast as it did following the breach of Birds Point. In saving damage to the north, however, the rush of water caused by the intentional breach destroyed homes and livelihoods south of Birds Point. The Great Flood of 2011 is still very real to our neighbors in Mississippi County. It continues to be a major disaster.

The destruction will have a lasting impact not only on the farmers who work the land, but also to the regional businesses that support the farmers. We all have ties to the land.

A month removed from the epic Birds Point decision, the national news media has turned its attention to other important matters. Missouri's governor has his hands full with the urgent needs of the tornado victims in Joplin, for whom our hearts break also.

But we remember today the flood victims who are still pressing on, still waiting for the water to drop some more, waiting to see what evaporation will reveal. We empathize with those who are resolved to fix that blasted levee as soon as possible and return to planting and harvesting. We understand their urgency and their desire to get back to normal.

And as a collective voice from northward neighbors, we owe Mississippi County a great deal of gratitude. Who knows what kind of damage would have occurred had the floodway not been activated? The plan worked, but at a considerable cost.

It's for this reason our government should do everything within its power to remove red tape and fix the levee as soon as possible. It's why We the People should use every means possible to help repair that ravaged farmland. Let's get these farmers back to work.

The corps has initiated a process by which residents and landowners of the floodway can file claims for damage that occurred when the floodway was activated. Those plans were unveiled in a meeting Thursday.

As of Wednesday, the corps reported that 1,000 cubic feet of river water was still flowing into the floodway every second. As much as half of the floodway is still under water. The situation is improving, but the fight is still in the early rounds.

To all of the victims of this year's flood, inside the floodway or out, we haven't forgotten about you. Keep fighting. Keep going. The forecast calls for more sunshine.