July 21, 1993 FLOODS RUN FINAL LAP THROUGH ILL. TOWN Author: Tom Charlier The Memphis Commercial Appeal Edition: Final Section: Metro Page: B1 Estimated printed pages: 3 The road to this tiny farming community is narrow and low and positively teeming with aquatic life. Ever since the Mississippi River burst through a levee just to the west, water carrying minnows and crayfish by the bucketful has cascaded across the so-called "Miller City blacktop" and lapped at the sandbags stacked eight high around Michael and Rose Sissom's modest ranch home. The flows have besieged about 40 residences and coursed through the Southernaire Courts motel in currents "too swift to stand in," said owner Greg Masterson. "Everytime I go out I've got my eyes half-open expecting to see it (the motel) floating toward me," Masterson says, while taking a break from flood- fighting activities at a nearby bait shop. But as bad as things may seem in this far corner of southern Illinois, residents here can find a measure of solace in this fact: Theirs should be the last community savaged by the Mississippi River flood of 1993. The devastation that began more than 500 miles upriver isn't expected to continue below them. Located about 175 miles north of Memphis, Miller City's 100 or so families live just upriver, and inland, from Cairo, Ill., where the Mississippi and its second-largest tributary, the Ohio, reach a murky junction that forms a much larger river. The larger channel size, coupled with low flows on the Ohio, should prevent serious flooding below Cairo, according to the Corps of Engineers. "The only thing we see south of Cairo is impact to low ag (agricultural) lands," said Dewey Jones, chief of the hydraulics branch for the corps' Memphis district. However, just before dumping into the Ohio, the Mississippi reserved a few final blows for this area of extreme southern Illinois. Six days ago, the river tore a 50-foot-wide hole in a levee that had held the river back from fields lying several feet below it. The crevasse quickly widened to 300 feet as the river poured in toward Miller City and other communities around Horseshoe Lake, a former river run popular among hunters and fishermen. "They still don't know what caused it," said Joe Ruiz, coordinator for the Alexander County Emergency Management Agency. Ruiz said the most immediate threat faces 20 residences in the community. So far, however, most owners are staying with their properties. One who isn't is Carl Willis, an elderly farmer who's staying with his son after losing 1,000 acres of soybeans to the flooding. The few acres of his that remained dry "won't amount to nothing," he said while leaving Egyptian School, which has served as a shelter, supply depot and command center during the flood fight. In all, an estimated 35,000-50,000 acres have been inundated between Cairo and the Horseshoe Lake area. The water levels dropped somewhat after a second levee break earlier this week allowed the flood flows to spread out more. But the worst may be yet to come. The Mississippi, already about 15 feet above flood stage at the gauge in nearby Cape Girardeau, Mo., is expected to rise another foot or so before cresting this week. To avert further flooding, hundreds of volunteers from as far away as Texas and Canada have labored in the broiling heat outside a local community center filling sandbags in an effort to raise a 1 1/2-mile stretch of levee another 2 feet. Already most homes and businesses have been sandbagged in a flood fight that has driven local residents to the limits of exhaustion. Michael Sissom, for instance, was hospitalized Sunday after collapsing while pumping water over the sandbags at his home. He said he had gone about five days with virtually no sleep. "There's water here that nobody's seen before," said Dillard Masterson, cousin of the motel owner. Ruiz has no illusions about the coming difficulties. "We're in for a long haul," he said. Copyright 1993, 1994 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN Ohio River Valley History
|
