Monday, May 02, 2011

Army Corps of Engineers to blow up Missouri levee tonight

U.S. Route 62 Bridge from Cairo; Birds Point, Missouri
in background. May, 2008.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that the U.S. Arny Corps of Engineers will blast a section of the Birds Point Levee in southern Missouri between 9:00pm and Midnight Central Time tonight. It's part of an effort to save Cairo, Illinois. If its levees break, the impoverished town of 3,000 will probably be inundated with 15 feet of floodwater.

As for Missouri, 300 homes are expected to be immersed in floodwater--along with over 100,000 acres of prime farmland.

UPDATE May 3: The Corps blew up the levee as expected. The river level at Cairo has dropped one foot. But Missouri farmers say their fields could be flooded until July or August. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a frame-by-frame display of the explosions.

Related posts:

Mayor orders evacuation of Cairo, Illinois

Midwest flooding: My 2008 Cairo, Illinois posts

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