"Engineers blast section of overwhelmed levee; More breaches may be needed downstream" May 03, 2011|By Jim Suhr and Jim Salter, Associated Press
WYATT, Mo. — The Army Corps of Engineers exploded a large section of a Mississippi River levee yesterday in a desperate attempt to protect an Illinois town from rising flood waters.
See: When the Levee's Bombed....
The corps said to blow open the Birds Point levee, which would inundate 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland, would help tiny Cairo, Ill., by diverting up to four feet of water off the river. Just before last night’s explosions, river levels at Cairo were at historic highs and creating pressure on the flood wall protecting the town.
For the Missouri side, the blasts were probably unleashing a muddy torrent into empty farm fields and around evacuated homes in Mississippi County.
Brief but bright orange flashes could be seen above the river as the explosions went off just after 10 p.m.
The blasts lasted only about two seconds. Darkness kept reporters, who were more than a half mile off the river, from seeing how fast the water was moving into the farmland.
Engineers carried out the blast after spending hours pumping liquid explosives into the levee.
More explosions were planned for overnight and midday today, though most of the damage was expected to be done by the first blast.
But questions remain about whether breaking open the levee would provide the relief needed, and how much water the blast would divert from the Mississippi River, as more rain was forecast to fall on the region today.
This may have all been for nothing?
The seemingly endless rain has overwhelmed rivers and strained levees, including the one protecting Cairo, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Flooding concerns also were widespread yesterday in western Tennessee, where tributaries were backed up due to heavy rains and the bulging Mississippi River. Streets in suburban Memphis were blocked, and some 175 people filled a church gymnasium to brace for potential record flooding.
The break at Birds Point was expected to do little to ease the flood dangers there, Tennessee officials said....
Engineers believe sacrificing the levee could reduce the water levels at Cairo by about four feet in less than two days. Meteorologist Beverly Poole of the National Weather Service put the figure closer to five feet. “These are uncharted territories, but it would be very fast,’’ she said.
Carlin Bennett, the presiding Mississippi County commissioner, said he was told a 10- to 15-foot wall of water would come pouring through the breach. The demolition was expected to cover about 11,000 feet of the levee.
“Tell me what that’s going to do to this area?’’ he said. “It’s a mini-tsunami.’’
How many nuclear plants are along the Mississippi, and how many are designed like Fukushima?
Major General Michael Walsh — the man ultimately responsible for the decision to go through with the plan — has indicated that he may not stop there if blasting open the levee doesn’t do the trick.
Now we know whom to blame when we are all rioting for food.
In recent days, Walsh has said he might also make use of other downstream “floodways’’ — basins surrounded by levees that can intentionally be blown open to divert flood waters.
Among those that could be tapped are the 58-year-old Morganza floodway near Morgan City, La., and the Bonnet Carre floodway about 30 miles north of New Orleans. The Morganza has been pressed into service just once, in 1973. The Bonnet Carre, which was christened in 1932, has been opened up nine times since 1937, the most recent in 2008.
“Making this decision is not easy or hard,’’ Walsh said. “It’s simply grave — because the decision leads to loss of property and livelihood, either in a floodway or in an area that was not designed to flood.’’
Officials in Louisiana and Mississippi are warning that the river could bring a surge of water unseen since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
The corps has said about 241 miles of levees along the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Mo., and the Gulf of Mexico need to be made taller or strengthened.
George Sills, a former Army Corps engineer and levee expert in Vicksburg, Miss., said the volume of water moving down the river would test the levee system south of Memphis into Louisiana.
Related: Fears for old levees rise along with rivers; Across US, many in need of repairs
Sorry, America; all that money went for wars, Wall Street, and Israel.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a major flood down the Mississippi River,’’ Sills said. “This is the highest river in Vicksburg, Miss., since 1927. There will be water coming by here that most people have never seen in their lifetime.’’
--more--"
"Destruction of levee eases flood threat to Illinois town; But move swamps Mo. farms, homes; 3 states still at risk" May 04, 2011|By Jim Suhr and Jim Salter, Associated Press
WYATT, Mo. — The dramatic, late-night demolition of a huge earthen levee sent chocolate-colored floodwaters pouring onto thousands of acres of Missouri farmland yesterday, easing the threat to a tiny Illinois town being menaced by the Mississippi River.
As opposed to a demolition of skyscrapers on a sunny September morning.
But the blast near Cairo, Ill., did nothing to ease the risk of more trouble downstream, where the mighty river is expected to rise to its highest levels since the 1920s in some parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
“We’re making a lot of unfortunate history here in Mississippi in April and May,’’ said Jeff Rent, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. “We had the historic tornados, and now this could be a historic event.’’
More on the tornadoes below.
The Army Corps of Engineers was considering making similar use of other so-called floodways — enormous basins surrounded by giant levees that can be opened to divert floodwaters.
A staccato series of explosions lit up the night sky Monday over the Mississippi with orange flashes and opened a massive hole in the Birds Point levee. A wall of water up to 15 feet high swiftly filled corn, soybean, and wheat fields in southeast Missouri.
We needed that food.
Why don't you make that the ethanol industry allotment?
Upstream at Cairo, which sits at the confluence of the swollen Mississippi and Ohio rivers, preliminary readings suggested the explosion worked.
As if anyone these days believes government readings of any kind. These are the same people who readjusted the safe radiation levels because of Fukushima.
But across the river, clearing skies gave a heartbreaking view of the inundation triggered by the demolition. The torrent swamped an estimated 200 square miles, washing away crop prospects for this year and destroying as many as 100 homes.
Not that I want to see someone's home ruined by flood, by why all this to save little Cairo?
A group of 25 farmers sued the federal government yesterday, arguing that their land had been taken without adequate compensation....
Nothing new about that.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said farmers who had crop insurance will be eligible for government reimbursements if their land was flooded.
Other forms of help will be available for livestock producers and tree farmers under the same programs designed for natural disasters. People who lost homes may also be eligible for rural housing loans.
How come THEY DO NOT GET A BAILOUT?
They (literally) NEED ONE, but I guess they are not a bank or Wall Street financial house.
Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri, who stood behind the state’s failed legal fight to stop the destruction of the levee, said state leaders would do everything “within our power to make sure the levee is rebuilt and those fields, the most fertile fields in the heartland, are put back in production.’’
What was washed away by Globe censorship (sigh):
By blowing up the levee, the corps hoped to reduce the river level at Cairo and ease pressure on the floodwall protecting the town. As of yesterday afternoon, the Mississippi had receded to 60.2 feet and continued to fall, a day after a record crest.
"Things look slightly better, but we're not out of the woods," Police Chief Gary Hankins said while driving his patrol car past jail inmates assigned to fill sandbags outside an auto-parts store.
Not that it isn't appreciated; however, that is slave labor.
But if Cairo and other spots were dodging disaster, ominous flooding forecasts were raising alarm from southeast Missouri to Louisiana and Mississippi....
--more--"
"Along Miss. River, fear rises with water; Severe flooding may get worse in coming weeks" by Dylan Lovan and Adrian Sainz, Associated Press / May 5, 2011
HICKMAN, Ky. — People along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries packed up their belongings and emergency workers feverishly filled sandbags as high water pushed its way downstream yesterday in a disaster that could break flood records dating to the Depression.
From Illinois to Mississippi, thousands of people have already been forced from their homes, and anxiety is rising along with the water, even though it could be a week or two before some of the most severe flooding hits....
Up and down the Big Muddy River, farmers braced for a repeat of the desperate strategy employed earlier this week in Missouri, where Army engineers blew up a levee and sacrificed vast stretches of farmland to protect populated areas upstream.
I must confess that I had stopped believing in the "EndGame" scenario a while ago since the supreme banking system and its pyramid scheme needs an ever-expanding base of hosts to prey upon; however, now I am not so sure. The looting banksters have ruined the world economy and the increasingly unruly world is spinning out of their control. It may be time to cull the heard and start using that excess (and radiated) food for fuel. See how each piece of the puzzle is part of the overall plan?
The looming disaster is being compared to the great floods of 1927 and 1937....
The great flood of the lower Mississippi River valley in 1927 was one of the worst natural disasters in US history. More than 23,000 square miles, roughly the size of West Virginia, were inundated; hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, and about 250 died. In the aftermath, authorities were criticized for helping rescue whites while leaving thousands of black farm workers stranded for days without food or drinking water.
Makes me think of Katrina and how little things have changed!
Another flood in 1937 was also devastating, submerging 31,000 square miles from West Virginia to Louisiana.
Lifelong Hickman resident H.L. Williamson, 77, was a boy when he and his family fled to the highest point in town. He recalled little of the experience except that his brother would not eat black-eyed peas or grapefruit for years because that was all they had during the flood....
--more--"
And about those tornadoes:
"At somber church services across the South, thousands of people still reeling from the second-deadliest day of twisters in US history gathered yesterday to mourn the hundreds who were killed. All told, at least 350 people died across seven states, including 250 in Alabama. Thousands more were injured....
--more--"
Don't worry, feds are on the case and their mouthpiece media let's you know about it:
"312 tornadoes set US single-day record; Storm rampage was deadliest since 1925" May 03, 2011|Associarted Press
WASHINGTON — Federal disaster relief offices are helping people apply for aid, and shelters are providing free haircuts and eye clinics as part of the massive relief effort that was in full swing yesterday....
Last week’s storms flattened homes and killed 342 across seven states. Thousands were injured, though several days later most tornado-related injuries had been tended to. Yesterday, workers at a shelter in Tuscaloosa were sorting prescription drugs for those who lost medications for high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and other conditions.
“They’re on chronic medications, and their prescriptions are gone,’’ said Dr. Beth Western, who volunteered yesterday at a shelter in Tuscaloosa. “They need something to get them through until they can go see their physician.’’
Amy Hall, 23, limped through the shelter with a broken foot, cradling her 2-year-old son. The toddler broke his nose and bruised a lung when their home was lifted off its foundation and tossed a block away. He spent two days in the hospital, and Hall said the family was getting excellent care at the shelter.
Over the weekend in the town of Phil Campbell in northwestern Alabama, volunteers in golf carts zipped down streets with coolers of water and boxes of sausage biscuits. At noon, volunteers were grilling hot dogs to feed as many people as they could in three parts of the town of about 1,100.
Elsewhere, church groups and congregations have been central to the relief effort.
It makes you sometimes ask why we even need government (despite this puff piece of a promotion and the one to follow).
In most small towns around here, churches serve as community centers, town halls, and gymnasiums. Besides Sunday services, they host Boy Scout troop meetings, neighborhood voting, bake sales, basketball games, and Wednesday night prayer meetings.
So much for separation of church and state, 'eh?
Some churches were wiped out. Some left standing are headquarters for rebuilding.
--more--"
Also see: With fast action on tornado, FEMA seeks redemption
It is only my opinion, but I think both this government and media and beyond it.
They have had their chance and look where they have brought us with their lies.
