Corps delays third breach after exhausting explosives supply

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A third levee breach planned for Tuesday is being delayed by at least 24 hours because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used too much of the explosives on the first two detonations and do not have enough for the third breach yet, corps officials said at a news conference Tuesday evening.

Col. Vernie Reichling, who heads the corps' Memphis District, said they discovered the "potential issue" Monday night after executing the first breach at Birds Point in Mississippi County. The problem was exacerbated Tuesday after the second blast near New Madrid, Mo.

"We saw that we were potentially using more of the slurry mix than we had anticipated," Reichling said. "This comes as we are executing a plan that was hatched 30-some years ago and we are implementing it for the first time. So there has been a learning curve."

The "slurry mix" is a liquid mix of sodium perchlorate -- often used to make ammunition -- and aluminum powder. The amount used by the corps also may answer questions from people, some in different states, who said they felt the blasts Monday night from nearly a hundred miles away.

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, president of the Mississippi River Commission and the man who ordered the execution of the plan, said they had acquired more of the explosives shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday but that it would take 24 hours for it to arrive. Walsh said the third detonation, which would create a second 5,500-foot outflow area, would take place today.

Walsh said that they had used more than 150 tons of explosives for the first two breaches, the second which took place near New Madrid, just after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. Reichling said that after the second blast came Tuesday, he ordered an "operational pause."

That not only will allow time for the additional explosives to arrive but will give his crew of about 150 corps members time to rest.

"Fatigue has been a factor," Reichling said. "Some of our people have worked 24 to 36 hours straight. They've been working with high explosives, and there is a concern for safety. We have been constantly adjusting to conditions. The conditions Mother Nature threw at us was severe."

The Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway plan is intended to create inflow and outflow breaks in the levee system to move river water across 200 square miles of Southeast Missouri farmland, largely in Mississippi County. The first breach floods the land and the second two allow the water to flow back into the Mississippi River. The detonation Tuesday creates one outflow for the water, and both Walsh and Reichling said Tuesday that not immediately having a third would not create a problem.

Reichling said about 390,000 cubic feet of water per second was coming into the floodway, as of about noon Tuesday. But he said his chief hydrologist and other corps scientists have taken a look at the risk of having only one outflow breach.

"They have all continually come to the same conclusions," Reichling said. "There are no elevated risk with having only one outflow crevasse."

Levees along the floodway are expected to hold from Mississippi County to the outflow area near New Madrid, Reichling said, adding that "we are overcoming the challenges we are facing."

As far as to exactly when the third breach would happen, Walsh said that "timelines are still shifting."

Before that news broke, Gov. Jay Nixon paid a visit to the rain-soaked region Tuesday, pledging to use every resource at his disposal to offer aid to a part of the state that is suffering through one of the worst floods in Missouri history.

But the governor also offered a word of caution: "Floods last a long time, and the damage lasts a long time afterward."

Nixon also met briefly with Walsh to talk about the floodway, which was activated in an effort to diminish floodwaters in communities in Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky.

Walsh told Nixon that the waters that were released Monday night have made their way about three-quarters of the way down the floodway. The waters are headed the 35 to 40 miles toward New Madrid.

The original plan called for detonating the inflow breach at Birds Point Monday night and the outflow breach near New Madrid after midnight Monday. The last breach would have taken place by midmorning Tuesday. But the second detonation occurred just after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. Corps crews were about eight hours behind schedule because of weather-related issues and the declining supply of explosives.

During a news conference earlier Tuesday afternoon in Sikeston's municipal courtroom, Sikeston Department of Public Safety director Drew Juden told the governor that 20 to 25 pumping stations had been placed throughout Southeast Missouri to fight back floodwaters. The Missouri National Guard, which has 750 soldiers deployed to the area, has set up two stations for preparing sandbags to help communities keep the water at bay.

About 25 swift-water boats also stood at the ready in case of a need for a water rescue, Juden said.

Nixon asked Juden about the status of the levee at Commerce, Mo. Rumors were rampant Tuesday that the levee had been compromised, but Juden told Nixon that was not true.

"The levee is holding," Juden said. "There are no sand boils. We're like everybody else -- hoping and praying. If that levee breaks, it would send water from here to Helena, Ark."

At the conference with Nixon, Walsh said the floodway has operated as designed. The delay overnight Monday came with "blinding rain" and 50 mph winds, Walsh said. After blowing the inflow fuse plug Monday night -- creating an 11,000-foot opening for the Mississippi River -- they had to stand down because of the weather after getting only two of the six fuse plugs near New Madrid full of slurry. The other manhole-type access wells were full of rainwater and special pumps had to be brought in to free them from water. Later, after that had taken place, the first outflow breach was made near New Madrid.

When asked about when the water might recede from the floodway, Walsh said it was not likely to happen before late summer or early fall.

Nixon, meantime, said the state has been declared a disaster area since April 22. He also promised that "we stand ready to assist. What Mother Nature started, we will finish."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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