Mississippi County sheriff vigilant of those who enter floodway

MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, MO (KRCU) - The Mississippi County Sheriff has stepped up patrols in the Birds Point New Madrid floodway.

The increased security comes during a time when thefts have been reported in the New Madrid County section of the floodway.

Mississippi County sheriff Keith Moore says that have been no reports of theft on his side of the flood plain, but he still have seven officers who patrol the area and check who enters the floodway.

“We’ve got people that just seems to think that they go down to a place and if there is something on the side of a levee or there something somewhere, they can just pick it up and put it in their vehicle and leave,” Moore said.

Sheriff Moore says that the job is made even more challenging by damage to roads in the floodway. He says that people that don’t have any business in the floodway should keep out … such as a group of teenagers that he had to run off who were trying to go swimming in a newly created blue hole.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Corps to rebuild Birds Point levee

The Army Corps of Engineers says that the Birds Point-New Madrid spillway levee will be restored.

In a letter to Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Jo-Ellen Darcy, established a timeline for rebuilding the levee system.

In the letter, Darcy said that water should recede within 40 to 60 days without further rainfall. The land will need another 21 to 30 day to dry. After the drying out period, the Corps would make an assessment to determine the extent of restoration.

Representative Emerson called the Birds Point operation, “a deeply painful experience for thousands of people.” She says that the Corps’ commitment to rebuild is the first good news about the levee in a long time.

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Mississippi County farmers inspect Birds Point floodway

CHARLESTON, MO (KRCU) - Mississippi County farmers were allowed to enter the Birds Point spillway on Monday to inspect property that was flooded by last week’s levee breach.

Mark Dugan farms about 3000 acres in the spillway. He says that the amount of damage was close to what he expected.

“I really was anxious to do that. I don’t think it was comforting. But I wanted to see and I wanted to see what damage had been done,” Dugan said.

Dugan says that most of the homes in the flooded area were damaged, but he thinks that farmers might be able to salvage their metal work buildings, grain bins, and irrigation pivots.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Economist predicts $93 million drop in total revenue for Mississippi County

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - A Southeast Missouri State University economist studied the impact of the Birds Point Levee breach on the Mississippi County economy.

Dr. Bruce Domazlicky says that the impact of flooding half of the county’s farmland will have the most direct impact through the loss of agriculture output from this land.

The indirect impact is the loss that agricultural suppliers will face. These include lost seed and other input sales.

There will also be an induced impact from the loss of farm wages.

"What we found is that employment in 2011, the current year, will decline by a little over 500. Which is quite significant. That’s about 9% of the total employment in Mississippi County," Domazlicky said. "The second thing we found is that labor income would fall by about 12 million dollars in the county, and that’s also about 9% of the total labor income in the county."

The total revenue in the county, Domazlicky says, will go down by about 93 million dollars. He says this figure is the result of less agricultural output, but it is also affected by the reduction in sales by input providers.

Domazlicky says that these figures translate to about 14 percent of total revenue for the county. The numbers account for the current year.

"What’s going to happen going forward with respect to whether or not those acres can be brought back into cultivation, will then determine how extensive those impacts are going to be in the future," Domazlicky explained.

Domazlicky says that government assistance programs will mitigate these numbers somewhat, but will not completely make up for the direct loss of revenue for the county.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Levee goes boom: Winners and losers

CHARLESTON, MO (KRCU) - The Missouri levee that the Army Corps of Engineers blasted to pieces is part of a 1930’s era operations plan to control flooding on the Mississippi River.

Now levels on the river are going down. But as with many things, someone’s gain is someone else’s loss.

Generations of Missouri farmers have been making their living with the knowledge that a man-made breach could easily flood them out.

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Agriculture is king in Mississippi County, Missouri where mile after mile of row crops, irrigation pivots, and grain silos dot the landscape.

It’s no different than in farm counties throughout the Midwest, where corn, wheat, and soy beans form the basis of the economy.

But not this year … not since the Army Corps of Engineers blew a two-mile wide hole in the Birds Point levee … flooding half of the county’s farm land.

Ed Marshall is a farmer here who now has about 8000 acres underwater.

"To the economy in our area, there’s land over there will never recover," he says as he looks over the floodwaters. "Ever."

He recognizes the Corps’ need for action. And like many farmers here in Charleston, he’s resigned to the fact that the Corps will continue to operate the floodway for generations to come.

But Marshall, and others, fault the Corps’ procedures: detonating explosives over a two-mile stretch of levee, allowing for a crush of water to pound onto the spillway.

"When you blow a hole that big, that vast and that amount of water, you’re talking two miles with a twenty-three, twenty-four foot difference in elevation from where that water is coming, it’s like a small tsunami. It’s a two-mile tsunami that comes in there," he says.

Brad and Susan Hequembourg agree. We're driving to check out the set back levee, just a couple of miles outside Charleston. Brad waves to everybody we see, stopping his truck from time to time to heckle neighbors or friends.

As far as Brad Hequembourg is concerned, it’s the explosions that are the problem. Instead of blowing up the north end of the levee, he and others wants the Corps to allow slow flooding.

"This spillway is only going to displace so much water," Hequembourg says. "So why not go ahead and open it up from the south end and let it back in. If you let it back in, there’s going to be damage, but it’s only be minimal.”

The Hequembourgs and others here know that there are big risks involved to farming in a place like this. Many of their deeds contain flowage easements, allowing the Corps to release water at will. And folks seem to recognize that it’s for the greater good to flood this big, 130,000 acre chunk of their county.

But Lee Goodin and 24 other farmers here have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers.

"Well they have the easement to flood it. But they don’t have the easement to damage it … to destroy it," Goodin says.

The Corps says that its actions were necessary to reduce flooding throughout the entire Mississippi tributary system.

While water flows into Missouri fields, a nearby Illinois community was saved.

Cairo sits at the southernmost tip of Illinois where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers meet. It’s the immediate community with the most at stake. If the Corps didn’t act, Cairo would have been inundated with twenty feet of water.

About 150 of Cairo’s residents are taking shelter at a Red Cross evacuation center at Shawnee Community College. Evacuees have spent a week sleeping on cots without any of the comforts of home.

Carolyn Bellamy says the shelter was abuzz with rumors about blowing up the Birds Points’ levee in recent days. Few allowed themselves to believe that the Corps would actually move forward with the detonation.

"They kept saying ‘we’re going to do it, we’re not going to do it, we’re going to do it.’ I was confusing myself just like everybody else. And when they said finally they were going to it, and I heard the BOOM, I was like, OK, they did it," Bellamy says.

Bellamy was pinning her last hopes on the Corps’ action. Water was seeping through the flood walls, and sand boils were forming throughout town. Without relief, much of Cairo was bound to be destroyed.

Now the concern is for other towns along the Mississippi as the water continues its path to the sea.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Farmers file class action lawsuit against Army Corps of Engineers

CHARLESTON, MO (KRCU) - A group of 25 Mississippi and New Madrid County farmers filed a class-action lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers following the breach of the Birds Point Levee earlier this week.

The plaintiffs claim that the damages caused by the man-made breach exceeded the scope and the use of flowage easements on flooded property. The lawsuit also takes note that easements were acquired for an a monetary amount far below the current property value.

Attorney Mike Ponder represents the farmers.

“We are hoping that this will be one more tool that helps the farmers of Mississippi and New Countries put their lives back together again,” Ponder said.

Ponder says that the government has 60 days to respond.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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People in three states hear levee detonation

MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, MO (KRCU) - Three states shook as the Army Corps of Engineers blew up a two-mile section of levee on the Mississippi River. The Army Corps of Engineers blew up the levee to lower river levels in the heavily flooded region.

The levee was packed with liquid explosives and set off by C-4. Water cascaded into the floodway, inundating 130,000 acres of farmland and as many as 100 homes.

All residents of the spillway were safely evacuated in the days preceding the breach.

The Army Corps of Engineers chose to blow up this Mississippi River levee in rural Missouri to ease stress on a river system that has produced some of the worst flooding ever seen in southern Illinois, southeast Missouri, and western Kentucky.

The explosion was an attempt to save numerous small river communities, including the evacuated town of Cairo, Illinois which sits at the point where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet.

The breach will drop water levels, but Major General Michael Walsh cautions that the relief may only be temporary.

"As we bring the crest down it will be brought down for a few days. Then the crest will come back and we’ll see where we go from there," Walsh said.

General Walsh indicated that he is in discussions to open similar floodways in Louisiana.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Gen. Walsh gives go ahead to pump explosives into Birds Point

MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, MO (KRCU) - The Army Corps of Engineers should make a decision soon about the fate of the Birds Point levee in southeast Missouri. The Corps is only one step away from detonation.

Major General Michael Walsh has a difficult decision to make: if he blow ups the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, the river will flood 130,000 acres of farmland and displace about 200 people. But he will also ease pressure on flood walls and levees that are already pushed to the brink.

The Corps is pumping an explosive mixture into a two-mile section of the levee, located just south of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The river gauge at the evacuated town of Cairo, Illinois has already set a record, and is expected to crest at sixty-two-and-a-half feet on Tuesday.

The Cairo river gauge was at 60.8 feet as of 4 o’clock this morning.

General Walsh indicated that Tuesday’s crest will surpass the river level that triggers detonation of the levee.

"The operations order says 61 and rising. But again, it’s also tied to the system and making sure that the system is working tight," Walsh said.

The explosives should be in place by eleven o’clock this morning. General Walsh will then decide whether or not to proceed with the plan.

The Army of Corps of Engineers has been able to control some flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers by reducing the outflow of water from several reservoirs, including Barkley and Kentucky Lakes.

However, General Walsh warns that the lakes are nearing capacity.

"At this point most of those reservoirs have reached the full amount of pool that they can handle and they will start releasing more flows in the next couple of days," he said.

This will add additional water to a Mississippi River system that is already at full capacity.

Governor Nixon toured the Birds Point levee with General Walsh yesterday, promising a quick return to agricultural production for the region.

"This is a dramatic, one-in-a-two-or-three-lifetime occurrence in which the greatest time in history ever measured more water is here than has ever been here," Nixon said.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster asked the U-S Supreme Court to review decisions by the 8th District Court of Appeals and the Federal District Court that sought to block the levee breach. Justice Supreme Alito denied the request.

Nixon said his focus is no longer on litigation, but rather making sure that Mississippi County residents are safely removed from the affected area and the operation continues safely.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Major General Walsh still undecided on Birds Point

SIKESTON, MO (KRCU) - The Army Corps of Engineers is facing an unprecedented decision – whether or not to blow up one of their own levees to lessen flooding pressure upstream.

The decision comes in the face of near historic levels of flooding on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

A barge full of explosives is waiting near the Birds Point levee, located just south of the town of Cairo, Illinois which sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

The Corps has not yet made a decision. Detonation would flood 130,000 acres and displace 200 people.

Colonel Vernie Reichling says that the Corps does not take this decision lightly.

"You know, we don’t want to use the floodway. But if we have to, it has to be at the right time. It’s not about the condition at Cairo gauge. It’s about the condition of the overall system," Reichling said.

Reichling calls the floodways one of the only weapons in the Corps' arsenal, and that Major General Michael Walsh will decide when and if the conditions are right to blow up

“We only utilize it once. So it has to be at the right time if you are going to utilize it,” Reichling said.

The Army Corps of Engineers has three other Mississippi River floodways that it can open up in case of extreme flooding. All three are located in Louisiana.

A decision on Birds Point could come as early as Sunday.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Judge Limbaugh rules in favor of Army Corps of Engineers

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - A federal judge gave the Army Corps of Engineers the go ahead to destroy a levee in rural Missouri. The man-made breach would ease flooding on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers

Judge Steven Limbaugh ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers has legal authority to breach the Birds Point levee, just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a temporary restraining order against the Corps this week to block the detonation. Koster said in a press release that he would like to see the Eighth District Court review the decision.

Corps spokesman Jim Pogue says there is still no decision on whether or not to go ahead with the plan.

"If the leadership decides that we need to move forward, then that decision would be made at that time," Pogue said.

The levee was designed as an "emergency button" that can be used in times of extremely high river levels. The breach will flood 130,000 acres of farmland.An estimated 200 people live in the affected area.

Flood levels are reaching 60 feet at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, Illinois where some of the most severe flooding is taking place.

Judson Childs is Cairo’s mayor.

“There have been lives at stake, and I can say I think the citizens of Cairo will be very proud that he made that decision. It was just the right thing to do,” Childs said.

Childs has twice issued voluntary evacuations this week.

The Missouri Attorney General’s office has hinted that it may seek an appeal.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Judge Limbaugh mulls ruling on Birds Point case

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - A federal judge in Cape Girardeau is expected to make a decision soon on the Army Corps of Engineers’ authority to destroy the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County.

Construction of the Birds Point levee was completed in 1932, and was built to serve as an emergency button to relieve upstream communities from flooding on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Judge Stephen Limbaugh says that he needs more time to go over what he called the case’s complicated, technical, and esoteric details. He offered no indication of when he will offer a ruling.

Limbaugh added that he was uncertain that he even has authority to rule on the matter, citing a previous decision in the 8th District Court of Appeals.

The levee was only blown up once - in 1937.

Record high river levels at Cairo prompted the Corps to send a barge full of explosives from Memphis to Hickman, Kentucky. Once the river stage at Cairo reaches 60.5 feet, the Corps could decide to denote the explosive on the levee. The river level at Cairo is currently just below 59 feet.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a lawsuit earlier this week that blocked the Corps’ plan.

The states of Illinois and Kentucky joined the Army Corps of Engineers as defendants.

Detonation of the Birds Point levee would lower river levels and decrease the risk of flooding in Cairo and other southern Illinois communities. It would also flood 130,000 acres of Mississippi County farm land. It is estimated that 75 to 90 houses are in the area. About 200 people live there.

An Army Corps of Engineers economist testified that damage to Mississippi County would reach $330 million.

Most of the floodway properties have flowage easements. Owners would likely not receive compensation for their losses.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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