Mayor orders evacuation of Cairo, Illinois

Confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, Fort Defiance Park,
May 24, 2008

Cairo's mayor, Judson Childs, has ordered all "non-essential" residents to leave the southern Illinois town. Meanwhile, after winning a legal victory in Missouri, the US Army Corps has yet to breach a levy that will flood large swaths of Missouri farmland--but might save Cairo, which is at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Rain is expected today--and stress on Cairo's levees are causing sand boils, a kind of sinkhole.

UPDATE 3:30pm CDT: The water level on the Ohio River side of Cairo is 59.59 feet above flood level, a new record.

Related post:

Midwest flooding: My 2008 Cairo, Illinois posts

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