GORHAM, Ill. -- Mildred Dawson, 70, and her sister Rosetta Adams, 77, were among the first to arrive at Monday afternoon's town meeting at the Gorham United Methodist Church. They, like most everyone in the town of 400, already knew they were about to be asked to leave their homes.

But Dawson and Adams, who were born in this town, don't plan on going anywhere if they can help it. They just wanted to know the details in case the Degognia-Fountain Bluff levee can't hold.

"I don't want to leave," said Dawson, who lives in a wheel-less mobile home with her dog and 10 cats. "I just don't want to leave."

Other bottomland-dwellers from Gorham and the nearby hamlets of Sand Ridge, Neunert, Raddle and Cora soon packed into the church, which welcomed four people for last Sunday's services.

One by one, Mayor Ron Ford, Lt. Col. Michael Smith of the Illinois National Guard and Mark Alvey of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urged the townspeople to vacate their homes and move to higher ground.

About 200 people attended a second evacuation request meeting later Monday afternoon in nearby Jacob.

Voluntary evacuation requests now are in effect in low-lying areas from south of Grand Tower to Cora, about 17 miles north. In all, about 1,600 people are affected.

Ford made a special request that elderly residents leave town. "It would help us in case something does happen," he said.

While pronouncing the levee sound, Alvey said he'd proudly proclaimed 2 weeks ago that no federal levee had given way. But he was there when first the Kaskaskia Island levee and then the Bois Brule levee south of Chester, Ill., were breached.

"These levees have never withstood this much water, ever. Period. We never anticipated this much water," he said.

"I will admit to you it's humbling, really humbling."

He later conceded that the two levee breaks to the north "definitely influenced the decision (to ask residents to evacuate). We want to take all precautions we can to protect lives.

"There are so many unknowns with nature," he said.

He told the assemblage, "If it were I, I would voluntarily evacuate. ... Things are getting a little more serious as far as the river stages."

Actually, people have been evacuating the area voluntarily for weeks. But Monday, pickup trucks loaded with mattresses and furnishings streamed down Highway 3. Residents of Grand Tower to the south were asked to evacuate on Sunday.

One who will remain in Gorham is Terry Homan, the city's emergency services coordinator. "I'm the one who has to blow the siren," he said.

If the levee gives way, the town's storm siren will sound and Homan will drive through town with his truck siren blaring. Alvey estimated that those remaining would have 12 to 24 hours to escape before water reached the town. The difference depends on where a breach occurs.

If the worst happens, the low-lying town is expected to find itself under 20 feet of water.

The town post office already is closed. Mail must be picked up in Murphysboro.

The townspeople were assured by Jackson County Sheriff Bill Kilquist that the National Guard and Illinois State Police will maintain 24-hour patrols in the town to prevent looting.

Already Monday, National Guardsmen were blocking entrance into the town for anyone who didn't have a reason to be there. The sheriff said passes will be issued to residents to make it more difficult for outsiders to get in.

Lt. Col. Smith said 385 Guardsmen are at work along the flood area from Cora to Cairo and another 100 have just come in. "As we watch this thing unfold, our hearts and minds are with you," he said.

Lightening an otherwise grim meeting, Smith thanked the residents for the melons and chicken dinners they've been bringing his troops but reminded them that he's responsible for their fitness.

"Anything they get needs to be low-cal."

Roger Smith, disaster coordinator for the Jackson County chapter of the Red Cross, said a shelter is now open to any residents who need one. The shelter is at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between Carbondale and Murphysboro.

"We are prepared to take as many of you as need to go there," he said.

The city of Carbondale has donated warehouse space for furnishings.

In addition, a U.S. Forest Service official handed out an evacuation information sheet listing the names and phone numbers of people and agencies willing to help residents get out.

Smith said the Red Cross also is trying to provide assistance in moving mobile homes, but cautioned residents that the home has to be on wheels and they have to have someplace to put it.

That's a problem, Rosetta Adams said. "They won't rent us a place to park our trailer because we won't be there that long."

Adams said her bank also turned down her request for a small loan that would pay the $250 to move her trailer.

At the end of the meeting, Dawson had heard nothing to change her determination to remain in her home. "If they don't make me leave I will (stay)," she said.

She admitted, however, that "I'm as nervous as a wreck."

Speaking to a group of Sand Ridge residents after the meeting, Alvey said, "I think the levee's going to hold, but I'm conservative enough to tell you to get out for your own safety."