This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 30, 2011 - The Army Corps of Engineers has moved barges into place at the Birds Point-New Madrid levee but has not yet decided whether to burst it, Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon said Saturday afternoon. The action would send Mississippi River water across a swath of Missouri farmland in an effort to prevent flooding in upriver towns including Cairo, Ill.
Nixon said evacuation of the area was complete and National Guard troops were in place. Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, the corps officer who will decide whether to breach the levee, will reevaluate the situation on Sunday, the Southeast Missourian reported. It would take the Corps about 24 hours to deploy the explosives necessary to blow up the levee.
Saturday afternoon, Cairo's mayor ordered a mandatory evacuation by midnight, the Southeast Missourian reported.
Earlier Saturday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis said the Corps can proceed with the plan if necessary. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster had asked for an emergency stay after the Corps said it was preparing to detonate floodgates near Cape Girardeau.
Nixon issued the following statement Saturday afternoon:
"Earlier this afternoon, I spoke directly with Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, of the Army Corps of Engineers. Maj. Gen. Walsh informed me that the Corps has dispatched barges north on the Mississippi River to be in place at the Birds Point-New Madrid Levee.
"While the Corps must reach additional decision points before intentionally breaching the levee, we have carried out numerous plans to prepare for that contingency. Upon my orders, 630 Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen of the Missouri National Guard are in place in the region, and approximately 100 additional troops are on the way. They have been providing invaluable assistance to local law enforcement authorities in evacuating the floodway. The evacuation of some 230 residents in the floodway in Mississippi and New Madrid counties is now complete, and the National Guard has set up command posts and checkpoints around the evacuated area to secure the homes and personal property of those who left. We are prepared, if the Corps makes the decision to breach the levee.
"I traveled to New Madrid yesterday afternoon to meet with local elected and emergency response officials, and to again view the large area already impacted by flooding, or threatened with flooding. This was my second trip to southeast Missouri in the past five days. Accompanying me were Maj. Gen. Stephen Danner, the Adjutant General; Missouri Public Safety Director John Britt; and Col. Ron Replogle, Superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Troopers from the Highway Patrol also have been assisting local law enforcement in patrolling area roadways.
"The people of southern and southeast Missouri who have been suffering because of these destructive floods should know that we will continue to provide all the state resources we are able to alleviate that suffering."
Our earlier story by Robert Koenig, Beacon Washington Correspondent
The Birds Point-New Madrid floodway was being evacuated Friday after a federal judge ruled that its levee could be detonated if it is "absolutely essential" to lower floodwaters raging around Cairo, Ill., and other areas near the confluence of the swollen Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
While Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr., the corps said it planned to make a recommendation Saturday morning on whether to proceed with the detonation of the "fuse-plug levee" at Birds Point -- a process of setting explosives along a 2-mile levee segment that would take about 24 hours -- or wait to see if the rivers were cresting high enough to threaten Cairo and other areas.
"It's our understanding that the Mississippi County sheriff has ordered a mandatory evacuation" of the 35-mile long, 133,000-acre floodway in Missouri's Bootheel, said James T. Pogue, chief spokesman for the corps' Memphis District, which has set up a temporary office in Sikeston. "We will make our recommendation [to the Mississippi River Commission] early Saturday on whether to go ahead with the levee detonation in 24 hours or whether to wait and make a decision later."
The final decision on whether to breach the Birds Point levee will be made by the president of the commission, Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, who commands the corps' Mississippi Valley Division. While Missouri officials oppose the levee detonation, officials from other states threatened by the flooding -- including Illinois and Tennessee -- are pressing to give the corps the option of using the floodway.
At the same time that the Missouri National Guard was overseeing the floodway evacuation on the Missouri side of the Mississippi, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency deployed dozens of workers to help shore up floodworks in Cairo and other Illinois cities along the severely flooding Ohio River. And Koster filed a 26-page appeal of Limbaugh's ruling with the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
"Given the devastation that these families [in the floodway] may soon endure, we believe it is important to ask the Eighth Circuit to review the District Court's decision," Koster's office said in a statement Friday. There are 90 homes, about 200 residents, and 130,000 acres of farmland in the floodway.
After a five-hour hearing Thursday that included testimony from Illinois officials in favor of breaching the Birds Point levee, Limbaugh ruled that: "This court finds that the corps is committed to implementing the [floodway] plan 'only as absolutely essential' to provide the authorized protection to all citizens. Furthermore, this court finds that no aspect of the corps' response to these historic floods suggests arbitrary or capricious decision-making is occurring."
Pogue said late Friday that the corps' decision on whether to recommend demolition of the Birds Point levee depends on the progression of the flooding. The National Weather Service has predicted that the Ohio River's crest at Cairo's flood wall could reach 60.5 feet (a foot above the record, set in 1937) as early as Sunday, and could stay at that high level for a couple of days. While Cairo's flood wall protects the town of 2,800 as high as a 64-foot flood crest, emergency management officials were concerned about undermining of earthen levees that protect other parts of the city.
Officials tour area
On Friday afternoon, Illinois officials led by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon took a helicopter tour of flooded areas along the Ohio River and then saw first-hand a sinkhole, sand boils and other signs that Cairo's levee system is being undermined in places by the floodwaters.
Durbin told the assembled crowd, "I think we've got good people working here and they're working night and day." While he was clear that "this city is worth saving," Durbin also noted that "we've got to leave it up to the corps of engineers."
If the levee is blown, Durbin said, "We stand by these people who are innocent victims."
Simon echoed Durbin's concerns about saving Cairo. "It's worth it because it's where we live," she said.
The press conference had its moments of excitement.
"A National Guard photographer started sinking into the soil just four feet away from where Sen. Durbin was standing," said Durbin's spokeswoman Christina Angarola, who accompanied the senator in Cairo.
"It was an eye-opener," said Durbin.
Illinois emergency workers were also placing sandbags around a sand boil in one of the city's neighborhoods. She said Durbin felt strongly that the Army Corps should have the option of deploying the Birds Point floodway, if needed.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, whose district includes Cairo, also toured parts of the city. "I support the Corps' decision regarding the Birds Point levee and the court's ruling," Costello said in a statement to the Beacon. "Of course, this is not an easy decision, put it is why we have emergency plans, to be prepared in worst case scenarios to mitigate damage and loss of life as much as possible."
Costello got an aerial view Friday of the swollen waterway system from the Metro East area to Cairo. He surveyed the swollen rivers with Col. Thomas O'Hara, commander of the corps' St. Louis District, and then met with Cairo Mayor Judson Childs and emergency management officials. "While there are sand boils in various areas of the system, the corps and local levee officials appear to have matters under control," said Costello. "Everyone is doing their best, working together to prevent major flooding throughout the system. A lot will depend on weather conditions in the next several days."
On the Missouri side of the river, Gov. Jay Nixon was scheduled to hold a roundtable discussion at New Madrid Central High School with local officials from the Bootheel "about flood response efforts and the latest developments regarding the Birds Point levee." Nixon was accompanied by Missouri's Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Stephen L. Danner; Missouri Public Safety Director John Britt; and Col. Ron Replogle, who heads the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Earlier Friday, at a news conference in St. Louis, Nixon declined to comment on Koster's legal appeal, but said "it's not good for the state of Missouri if that levee is breached." If the corps decides to detonate the levee and use the floodway, Nixon said state officials should be prepared to try to minimize damage from the floodwaters.
At Thursday's federal court hearing, assistant Missouri attorney general John McManus had contended that breaching the Birds Point levee would unleash floodwaters that would carve a channel through prime farmland, damage about 90 homes and hurt the area's environment because fertilizer, diesel fuel, propane tanks, pesticides and other pollutants would be swept into the water.