Southern Illinoiers on here

TV said Mississippi was cresting at 61 feet? Going to blow the leavy to save Cario and flood Missouri farms and towns. Any knowledge of this?? A vet cemetery in is inside the leavy at Cario.

They were in Federal court the other day. Missouri want to let Cairo go. Haven't heard what the judge decided

The news last night said that the judge ruled that the Corps can blow the levee when they think necessary.

I have been in Cario in the early seventies figured not much change.

(quoted from post at 17:04:40 05/01/11) TV said Mississippi was cresting at 61 feet? Going to blow the leavy to save Cario and flood Missouri farms and towns. Any knowledge of this?? A vet cemetery in is inside the leavy at Cario.

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What about the Tennessee and Kentucky side of the river?
Is it higher ground than Missouri?

It sounds like they are proceeding with plans to blow the levee and flood 130,000 acres of prime Missouri farm land just to save the run down town of Cairo,Illinois...Once a bustling town of 15,000 now down to 2,800 with numerous empty buildings...

For all they know the levee might have held..

I think the Birds Point levee was designed to fail in a heavy flood season.

Cairo Illinois has some depressed areas and gets a bad rap from folks just driving through, but there are some very nice homes in the city.

I'm 70 miles north of Cairo, and certainly no expert. Here's a link for more info on the Birds Point floodway.
Birds point

Judge did rule they could blow the levee, but Missouri got a court injuction

The deal was set up in the late 1920's, an extra channel parallels the river for 35 miles to take excess flood water and save the one town in the unlikely event both the Mississippi and the Ohio river reach high crests at the same place and same time. That's happening now. The levee around the town isn't high enough....

Back then the channel area was basically swampland of no account, and the town of Cairo was an up and coming big town. The plan made some sense back then, protect the valuable and let the worthless swamp take the water flow.

Now 80 years later, the floodway has been turned into some of the more valuable land in the country, with 100 - 200 homes in it aside from the 133,000 acres of good farm land, while the town of Cairo has fallen on hard times and is in decay and has barely 4 times more people in it than are living in the floodway.

Strictly speaking the deal is the deal and the floodway should be blown and everyone shoulda known this day would come.

But - 80 years changes a lot, and the deal probably shoulda been reviewed along the way? I'm not from there so I don't know but it seems a lot of damage will be done to _possibly_ save something of lessor value in today's world.

There are many possibilities of what happens to the spillway after the sacrifical levees are blown. At the least the fertile topsoil will be scored and washed and covered with sand deposits and debris, making the 133,000 acres unproductive for several years to forever.... When, if ever, will the blown levee's be rebuilt to start with?

Certainly a difficult choice, with the deals and time and all. Again, I'm not from there so I could be all wrong on the politics of the situation. Seems race comes into play too, depending on which side you want to be.....

At this point,t hey seem to be playing it both ways, evacuating both the spillway and the town; adding the explosives to the levee pipes (how would you remove that to safety standards without actually blowing them????) and then will it do any good, or will the town be swamped by what is coming out of the Ohio anyhow as they are getting more rain over there. It's an ugly situation all around.

Takes 20 hours to pump the explosives into the levee pipes; I can't see any other outcome but to let it blow after that?

Then they float another barge down the spillway & blow out the bottom levee in the same way 2 days later so the water can drain.

Then we lose 20 million bu of corn (prob 10 corn, and equivelent of soybeans...) in a year when we are short on corn.

--->Paul

Reading the link, it is designed to save not only Cairo, but large areas of Kentucky and Missouri?

It's a height issue not a structural integrity issue. Water runs downhill......

The folks that bought the land knew it was under such a stipulation. The only thing they can do is pack up their belongings and find higher ground.

If they didnt agree to the stipulation they should not have purchased the ground in the beginning.

My thoughts are this: If it was not for the levee this soil would be flooded almost every year. Since the levee has been in place it has been 80 years since it has flooded. That's a real improvement in my mind.

The farmers that farmed there when the levee was built were all greatful for it. Since the modern farmers dont remember what a hassle the river used to be they are not thankful for the levee.

It just has to be put into perspective.

Gee,I didnt know that water runs downhill...The levee is 64 ft at Cairo and the river will crest at 61.5 ft...

I am about 30 miles north of Cairo. They have already blown phase one and phase two. Only one more to go. The Supreme Court sided with the Corp of Engineers. This will also relieve pressure from levees south of Cairo, hopefully giving enough time for the current flooding to subside.