Swollen Mississippi defeats another levee
Jun 24, 9:30 AM (ET)
By CHERYL WITTENAUER
WINFIELD, Mo. (AP) - The swollen Mississippi River burst another levee Tuesday, submerging farmland and threatening a residential area whose occupants had already moved out in anticipation of a flood.
The levee failure near St. Charles comes as teams furiously fill sandbags to reinforce other waterlogged embankments guarding towns still waiting for the arrival of the huge river's flood crest.
Forecasters expect the last stretch of the bloated river to crest later this week.
"The spirits are tired, but they are still there and still solid," said Jo Anne Smiley, mayor of Clarksville, where makeshift sandbag levees are keeping the city's small downtown dry. "This is a community that will rise above this."
(AP) Law enforcement officers survey flooding over Highway 79 Monday, June 23, 2008, in Winfield, Mo....
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Smiley toured her town Monday with Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' chief of engineers. He said he was most concerned about agricultural levees up and down the river.
"I think what they have is holding well," Van Antwerp said. "Now, it's a matter of getting the water off of it."
But in the saturated Elm Point levee at St. Charles, Mo., about 30 miles north of St. Louis, two gaps allowed water to flood hundreds of acres of agricultural land. A mobile home park where about 700 people live near the Elm Point Levee had already been evacuated.
The constant pressure of the river remains the primary concern in Lincoln County, where officials asked for volunteers Monday to help fill 50,000 sandbags to fortify the 2 1/2-mile-long Pin Oak levee, an earthen berm that was so waterlogged that it was like "walking on a waterbed," said county emergency management spokesman Andy Binder.
Federal officials said they couldn't be sure it would survive through the river's crest at Winfield later in the week.
(AP) A streed is flooded s in Louisiana, Mo, on Wednesday, June 18, 2008. About 40 square blocks of the...
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"They have a serious condition on their hands," said Travis Tutka, the Army Corps' chief of dam safety. "This will be quite a test of that levee."
If it breaches, the river will swamp 100 homes in east Winfield, as well as 3,000 acres of farm fields, several businesses and a city ballpark. A muskrat that burrowed a hole in the soft ground released a geyser of water, and officials said it took nearly six hours Monday to choke off the leak.
"There is no guarantee of performance, but we're fighting the good fight," Tutka said.
Only a handful of residents remained in east Winfield on Monday, after emergency workers went door to door urging them to evacuate. Among the holdouts was Sherman Jones, 56, who was all alone in his house except for his dogs, Mugsy and Junior.
"There is no place to go but the high school. I am not going to leave 'til my feet are wet," Jones said. "It's been a rough year, but we'll get through it."
(AP) Map shows flooded river status in Iowa; 2c x 3 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 88.9 mm
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In Foley, north of Winfield, floodwaters late Monday were filling the higher part of town. The east side of Foley was already submerged.
Not far from the Iowa state line, the river was down a few inches at Canton after cresting Sunday at 27 feet - less than a foot short of the record set during the Great Flood of 1993. Jeff McReynolds, the city's emergency management director, said a voluntary evacuation request remained in place in the town of roughly 2,500.
"We were right up there to our nostrils for about 24 hours," McReynolds said. "The concern from our operations center is they (residents) have seen the crest and think the river has come down and want to move back into their homes."
Down river from Quincy, the levee at Hannibal, Mo., was holding the slowly falling river out of the boyhood hometown of Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain. Marion County Emergency Management Director John Hark said the city was already planning for its National Tom Sawyer Days, the early July festival celebrating Twain's work.
Hark said that with the river dropping, he could focus on other things that might discourage tourists - such as high gas prices.
"The flood, I think, is easier," he said.
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Associated Press writers Betsy Taylor in St. Louis and Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.
Jun 24, 9:30 AM (ET)
By CHERYL WITTENAUER
WINFIELD, Mo. (AP) - The swollen Mississippi River burst another levee Tuesday, submerging farmland and threatening a residential area whose occupants had already moved out in anticipation of a flood.
The levee failure near St. Charles comes as teams furiously fill sandbags to reinforce other waterlogged embankments guarding towns still waiting for the arrival of the huge river's flood crest.
Forecasters expect the last stretch of the bloated river to crest later this week.
"The spirits are tired, but they are still there and still solid," said Jo Anne Smiley, mayor of Clarksville, where makeshift sandbag levees are keeping the city's small downtown dry. "This is a community that will rise above this."
(AP) Law enforcement officers survey flooding over Highway 79 Monday, June 23, 2008, in Winfield, Mo....
Full Image
Smiley toured her town Monday with Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' chief of engineers. He said he was most concerned about agricultural levees up and down the river.
"I think what they have is holding well," Van Antwerp said. "Now, it's a matter of getting the water off of it."
But in the saturated Elm Point levee at St. Charles, Mo., about 30 miles north of St. Louis, two gaps allowed water to flood hundreds of acres of agricultural land. A mobile home park where about 700 people live near the Elm Point Levee had already been evacuated.
The constant pressure of the river remains the primary concern in Lincoln County, where officials asked for volunteers Monday to help fill 50,000 sandbags to fortify the 2 1/2-mile-long Pin Oak levee, an earthen berm that was so waterlogged that it was like "walking on a waterbed," said county emergency management spokesman Andy Binder.
Federal officials said they couldn't be sure it would survive through the river's crest at Winfield later in the week.
(AP) A streed is flooded s in Louisiana, Mo, on Wednesday, June 18, 2008. About 40 square blocks of the...
Full Image
"They have a serious condition on their hands," said Travis Tutka, the Army Corps' chief of dam safety. "This will be quite a test of that levee."
If it breaches, the river will swamp 100 homes in east Winfield, as well as 3,000 acres of farm fields, several businesses and a city ballpark. A muskrat that burrowed a hole in the soft ground released a geyser of water, and officials said it took nearly six hours Monday to choke off the leak.
"There is no guarantee of performance, but we're fighting the good fight," Tutka said.
Only a handful of residents remained in east Winfield on Monday, after emergency workers went door to door urging them to evacuate. Among the holdouts was Sherman Jones, 56, who was all alone in his house except for his dogs, Mugsy and Junior.
"There is no place to go but the high school. I am not going to leave 'til my feet are wet," Jones said. "It's been a rough year, but we'll get through it."
(AP) Map shows flooded river status in Iowa; 2c x 3 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 88.9 mm
Full Image
In Foley, north of Winfield, floodwaters late Monday were filling the higher part of town. The east side of Foley was already submerged.
Not far from the Iowa state line, the river was down a few inches at Canton after cresting Sunday at 27 feet - less than a foot short of the record set during the Great Flood of 1993. Jeff McReynolds, the city's emergency management director, said a voluntary evacuation request remained in place in the town of roughly 2,500.
"We were right up there to our nostrils for about 24 hours," McReynolds said. "The concern from our operations center is they (residents) have seen the crest and think the river has come down and want to move back into their homes."
Down river from Quincy, the levee at Hannibal, Mo., was holding the slowly falling river out of the boyhood hometown of Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain. Marion County Emergency Management Director John Hark said the city was already planning for its National Tom Sawyer Days, the early July festival celebrating Twain's work.
Hark said that with the river dropping, he could focus on other things that might discourage tourists - such as high gas prices.
"The flood, I think, is easier," he said.
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Associated Press writers Betsy Taylor in St. Louis and Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.
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Portland
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Re: Perhaps we should start praying for the Corp of Engineers...KEEP THEM COMING!
Fri, June 27, 2008 - 11:56 AMRead today that 100 homes are threatened in MO because more levees are being breached. These poor people need to catch a break. While I am talking about the weather, please pray for the Peace Garden this weekend. We are expecting it to hit 100 by tomorrow here, at least through Sunday, heat wave through next week.
Have a great weekend, y'all... -
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Re: Perhaps we should start praying for the Corp of Engineers...KEEP THEM COMING!
Sun, June 29, 2008 - 9:30 AMAs river rushes into Mo. town, residents file out
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Jun 29, 8:18 AM (ET)
By BETSY TAYLOR
WINFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A makeshift barrier holding back the Mississippi River failed early Saturday, swamping the low-lying part of the small community of Winfield and ending a valiant but ultimately doomed battle against the surging river.
About 300 National Guard soldiers worked nearly 20 hours to build a levee around a cluster of 100 homes in the flood plain after the river ripped through another levee there early Friday. Officials hoped the barrier would keep the water at bay long enough for it to recede.
It didn't. Still, those in the town of 720 people said they won't forget the heroic effort to try saving the neighborhood.
"I figured it was a long shot," said Jan Fox, 50, who finally left her mobile home Friday night when her power went out. She called the show of support overwhelming.
(AP) A resident sits on his back porch and watches the rising water creep ever closer to his house,...
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"It was wonderful, all the people who came, the sandbaggers, the military," she said.
Around town Saturday, gratitude for the last-ditch effort was mixed with a feeling of resignation. Many were ready to move forward.
"It was a valiant effort," said Chris Azar of the Winfield-Foley Fire Department. "It's unfortunate that we couldn't do more, but Mother Nature won. Now, just give it time for the water to recede."
At a Red Cross shelter at Winfield High School, the sound of hundreds of volunteers' shovels hitting sand and backhoes transporting sandbags had been a fixture for days. On Saturday the lot was largely quiet, while National Guard troops slept on cots inside after working through the night. A handful of residents, like Fox, began to make plans to stay with family or friends to wait out the river rise.
The new barrier had a steel frame with layers of dirt, plastic and sandbags. But water began seeping below and through around midnight, and it was clear in the hours before sunrise it was not going to hold.
(AP) Floodwaters cover Main street , Saturday, June 28, 2008 in Winfield, Mo. A makeshift sandbag levee...
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At least 60 homes in the cluster were flooded, Azar said, although authorities were still assessing the damage.
Many other homes in Winfield sit on a hill above the river and are well out of harm's way.
Winfield, 45 miles northwest of St. Louis, is in Lincoln County, which has been particularly hard hit by flooding caused by torrential rain that fell across the Midwest in early June.
County emergency operations spokesman Andy Binder said 92 homes have been destroyed and 36 others have major damage; 650 can't be evaluated yet because they remain inaccessible.
In nearby Foley, the mayor requested that anyone who doesn't live there stay out of town. The wake caused by vehicles driving through floodwaters was causing more problems for already damaged homes.
(AP) A streed is flooded s in Louisiana, Mo, on Wednesday, June 18, 2008. About 40 square blocks of the...
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The Mississippi is receding at Winfield and towns to the north but remains well above flood stage. Crests are expected reach St. Louis on Monday and Cape Girardeau in southeastern Missouri on Wednesday.
Cape Girardeau, where the river's flood stage is 32 feet, is expected to see a crest of 42.5 feet. At that level, some residents will have to leave and 100,000 acres of farmland will be flooded, the National Weather Service said.
Elsewhere in the state, heavy rain drenched much of southwestern Missouri early Saturday, causing widespread flooding of low-lying areas and roads.
Up to 5 inches of rain fell in two hours in Taney County, where a bridge along Lake Taneycomo collapsed and emergency workers had to evacuate around 15 people from a flooded mobile home park, said Chris Berndt, the county's emergency management director. No one was hurt in the bridge collapse, he said.
Across the central part of the state, the Missouri River, which joins the Mississippi near St. Louis, is rising because of heavy rain that fell on Thursday and early Friday. The National Weather Service predicts moderate flooding in parts of mid-Missouri by Monday.
While Winfield lost the battle to save its levee, some Missouri towns have apparently weathered the threat.
The levee held at Alexandria, a tiny town near the Iowa state line, and water is receding, allowing evacuees to move back home. A few houses had water inside, but nothing irreparable.
A massive sandbagging effort was still protecting most of the businesses in Clarksville, and water was still high but receding in nearby Louisiana. Both of those towns don't have levees.
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Associated Press writers David Twiddy in Kansas City, Mo., and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.
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