Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday to block federal officials from destroying a Mississippi River levee as they try to prevent flooding in a small Illinois city.
The Army Corps of Engineers is considering blowing a two-mile hole into the Birds Point levee in southeast Missouri, which would flood 130,000 acres of farmland in Missouri’s Mississippi County but protect nearby Cairo, a small southern Illinois city of 2,800 residents.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Koster’s bid Saturday to stop the corps’ plan. Although corps officials are monitoring water levels and haven’t decided whether to go through with the blast, Koster decided to appeal.
“In light of the devastation faced by the citizens of Mississippi County, devastation that will persist in the area for years to come, it is the responsibility of this office to pursue every possible avenue of legal review,” Koster said in a statement.
Statement from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan…
After two courts swiftly rejected its efforts, the state of Missouri is making yet another unfortunate and legally unjustified attempt to block the Army Corps from acting to protect the people in the path of this disaster. My office will fight this effort every step of the way and keep working to protect people and communities in Illinois.
After heavy rains Saturday night, the Ohio River at Cairo reached a record high of 59.7 feet on Sunday morning. The previous record of 59.5 feet was set in 1937, which was the last time the corps blew a hole in the Birds Point levee and let Missouri farmland fill with water from the Mississippi River.
The river was expected to rise to 60.5 feet on Tuesday and remain at that level through Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. More rain is predicted in the coming days, following a spate of spring rains that drenched the Midwest.
Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, the Corps officer in charge of deciding whether the levee needs to be blasted, said the trigger point will be when the Ohio River at Cairo reaches 61 feet. […]
Walsh said some parts of the Cairo levee wall were “beginning to degrade.” He said engineers noticed sand boils, a sign of trouble in which pressure from the swollen river pushes under the levee wall and water bubbles up in the soil on the other side.
*** UPDATE 1 - 3:30 pm *** No Army Corps of Engineers press conference is scheduled for today. Understandably, they’re pretty busy down there. I’ll let you know of any further developments.
*** UPDATE 2 - 3:39 pm *** I received this from Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon’s office this morning and just now noticed it…
Hey Rich,
I just checked in with Alexander County Sheriff Tim Brown regarding the door-to-door evacuation. He said no one has refused to leave, which is great news.
He said that people and their pets who don’t have a way to leave can catch a bus, departing every two hours, at the police station. The volunteer-staffed Red Cross shelter at the Shawnee Community College gymnasium is housing more than 110 people now, and capacity is 425. A Red Cross nurse and a crisis counselor are on hand, and a cadre of church, college and catering folks have been cooking up lunch and dinner for the evacuees.
Sheila and her husband, Perry, are going to stop by this afternoon with a few board games, puzzles and decks of cards. The shelter opened on the 26th, and people could be there for a while.
* And this press release arrive a couple of minutes ago…
ULLIN (May 1, 2011) — Lt. Governor Sheila Simon visited the flood shelter at Shawnee Community College today to thank volunteers and welcome residents of Cairo to safety. Simon and her husband, Perry Knop, hand-delivered games, puzzles and decks of cards to the Red Cross shelter, which has been open to evacuees since Tuesday.
A mandatory evacuation was ordered in Cairo last night, and buses transported stranded residents from the town’s police station to the Ullin college, about 20 miles away. More than 100 people are now living at the shelter. Shawnee Community College staff and local church congregants have pitched in to serve food and provide activities to the evacuated families.
“This is an impressive community effort that takes advantage of the community college as a safe, well-known and public location,” Lt. Governor Simon said. “Despite the difficult circumstances, people are fairly upbeat and positive about the flood response in Cairo and the future of their homes.”
Sandy Webster, director of the American Red Cross’ Little Egypt service center, said the shelter has adequate food, water and bedding supplies, but it would welcome community organizations that could provide activities to the evacuees this week. Organizations that want to provide activities should contact the Red Cross at 618-529-1525.
*** UPDATE 3 - 5:57 pm *** The pipes embedded in the fuseplug levee are being loaded with blasting agent, according to the Corps’ Facebook page…
MG Walsh has directed Col. Reichling and field crews to move the barges across the river to MO and load the pipes with the blasting agent at the BPNM Floodway. Walsh said he will review situation continuously as conditions change. The next steps include priming system with explosive charges and finally activating floodway by artificially breaching levee. The final decision to activate floodway has not been made
*** UPDATE 4 - 6:27 pm *** Not unexpectedly, some of the comments on the Corps’ Facebook page are getting very extreme and out of hand. For instance…
Bill Latchford: If I farmed or lived in the bottoms on the MO side of that levee, I would station myself there, armed to the teeth to protect my home, livelihood, and property. The Corp of Engineers is taking on the role of terrorists in this debacle. Absolutely NO DIFFERENT than Al Qaeda. A dying dump of a town on one side, and a thriving agricultural economy on the other. Let God decide which one should go, if either…
