EMERSON GETS A LOOK AT FLOODING

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Eighth District Congressman Bill Emerson toured parts of his flood-ravaged district with officials of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission on Saturday.

With Emerson was Colonel Theodore Fox, III, district engineer with the Corps' Memphis District, and R.D. James, a member of the Mississippi River Commission from New Madrid. The tour began at New Madrid and included stops at Commerce, Dutchtown and Cape Girardeau.

During a news conference at the Cape Girardeau airport, Emerson told reporters it is too early to determine the amount of damage the Flood of 1993 has caused, but promised government help will be available to those affected by the flood.

"An exact amount is impossible to determine until the water finally recedes. But at the federal level, the damage estimate already ranges from a minimum of 1.5 billion to over 10 billion dollars," Emerson said. "This tragedy covers a large section of the country, all the way up the Upper Mississippi River Valley Basin and the Missouri River Basin."

Emerson said he and other congressmen, whose districts have been damaged by the worst Mississippi River flooding in decades, met last Thursday with President Clinton, Vice President Gore and other high level government and emergency services officials.

"I am very pleased with the reaction to the flooding that I have seen at all levels of government, from the federal down to the state and local levels. They are all functioning as well as they can. They are on top of it, and are doing the very best they can," he remarked.

Emerson said the impact of the flooding is going to be felt long after the floodwaters go down. He said hearings are already underway in Washington on the impact of the Flood of 1993, and predicted the government will be involved in flood relief activities "for a long time to come."

"This is a disaster of a magnitude seldom seen in this country, in the area it covers and the amount of damage the flooding has caused so far," he continued. "There is a definite role for the government to play in disaster relief. Many farmers never got their crops in this year because of high water and others lost their crops due to flooding."

The House Agriculture Committee is working on a disaster relief bill, which may be dealt with before the August recess.

Emerson noted mainline levees that were built in this century along the river are holding, and preventing even worse flood damage to crops and property. "It could be a whole lot worse than it is, were it not for the work of the Corps of Engineers," he noted.

The air and land tour began Saturday morning as the group took off by helicopter from New Madrid and flew north along the Mississippi River over Powers Island, south of Commerce, where a private agriculture levee broke last week, flooding thousands of acres of farmland.

Colonel Fox reported the mainline levee on the west side of Powers Island Chute, and all other federal levees in this area of the Memphis District, including the Diversion Channel, are holding, and are in "good shape."

"These levees were designed with a good deal of safety factored into them, just for this type of occasion," said Fox. "They're having some difficulties with the private agriculture levees, and there have been some failures, but the federal (mainline) levees are doing what they were designed for. We are monitoring all of our levees 24-hours a day."

With the exception of some minor farmland flooding, Fox said the 1993 flood will have no serious impact on those living near the Lower Mississippi River, south of Cairo, Ill. He cited two reasons.

"The Ohio River is not at the same flood level as the Upper Mississippi River, and is not expected to reach that level. And right now, the Lower Mississippi River is capable of handling twice the volume of water it is now receiving from the Upper MIssissippi River at Cairo. There may be some flooding of crop land, but not to the extent we're seeing right now on the upper river."

Cape County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep joined the group at Dutchtown and took an overflight of the Allenville-Dutchtown area, the Diversion Channel levee east of Dutchtown, and along the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau to Neely's Landing.

Huckstep said water from Indian Creek, which has been backed up by the Mississippi River, is now close to several buildings along the south side of the Procter & Gamble Paper Products plant in east Cape County.

Huckstep said it is not the flooding river that worries him as much as what might fall from the sky. "Our greatest fear from day one has been this slow rise on the river, coupled with the possibility of flash flooding at the same time coming down the Diversion Channel or Hubble Creek," he said. "Any flash flooding right now would be devastating. We're prepared about as much as we can be, but there is nothing more we can do about it if flash flooding should occur.

"We feel competent that we can hold back the Mississippi River backwater on the Diversion Channel, but if we get a 2-4 inch rain like they had up north last week, it would devastate us. We can't handle the water level we have now and a flash flood coming down the Diversion Channel or Hubble Creek."

Huckstep said he would like to see Allenville completely evacuated because of the potential threat of flash flooding, combined with the flooding caused by the back up of the Diversion Channel. "The residents there tell me they can make it on their own, even if the river goes to 48 or 49 feet, but I'm still worried for their safety," he said.

Huckstep said he spoke with Emerson about arranging preparations for an emergency evacuation of Allenville on short notice should it become necessary as the Mississippi River approaches an all-time record high crest sometime today. He also spoke to Fox about additional supplies of sandbags and plastic sheeting for flood operations in the county.