DUTCHTOWN -- The failure of the Perry County levee south of McBride early Sunday morning was a disaster for residents who live in that area, but it is has proved to be a blessing to workers preparing to raise the sandbag levee protecting Dutchtown.

On Sunday, the National Weather Service predicted a new flood crest of 48.5 feet at Cape Girardeau, one week from today. The weather service said the breach in the Perry County levee caused a 1.6 foot drop in the river at Cape Girardeau on Monday.

The river at Cape fell to 44.7 feet on Monday. It was forecast to drop to 44.6 today, 44.5 on Wednesday and Thursday, and the begin rising again.

The Mississippi at St. Louis is expected to crest at 48 feet on Aug. 3; at Chester, the 48-foot flood crest is expected on Aug. 5.

The Ohio River at Cairo was at 44.6 feet on Monday. It is forecast to continue a slow fall the rest of the week.

After the new flood crest at Cape Girardeau was released by the weather service, representatives of Cape Girardeau County and Dutchtown held an emergency meeting at Jackson with civilian and military officials of the Corps of Engineers and National Guard. The decision was made to raise the Dutchtown levee another five feet.

Work began Monday morning when levee construction specialists from the Corps' Memphis District and about 90 guardsmen from Cape Girardeau began preliminary work to reinforce the existing sandbag levee.

Dee Crews, a construction representative with the Corps' Memphis District, said the entire 2,400-foot sandbag levee that stretches along the middle of Highway 74, then northward along a portion of the existing Hubble Creek levee, will be raised five feet on top of the existing five foot-sandbag levee.

"This will put the levee high enough to withstand a reading of 50 feet on the Cape Girardeau gauge. We don't expect the water to get that high at Cape, but we have found that we are getting higher water here than at Cape," Crews explained. "We also want to provide some flash flood protection from water coming down Hubble Creek or down the Diversion Channel."

Before the levee can be raised, Crews said a 3-4 foot-high, and 15-foot-wide, base is being laid along the inside of the existing sandbag levee.

"Before we can raise a levee, we first have to widen it at the base to give the proper support and protection at the top," he said.

All day Monday, dump trucks from Dumey Excavating, Inc., were hauling in rock fill for the base of the new levee while guardsmen from Headquarters Company, 1140th Combat Engineer Battalion, based at Cape Girardeau, were busy moving sandbags and placing a new layer of plastic over top of the existing levee for the new layer of sandbags.

Crews said the two-foot drop in the water level outside the sandbag levee that was caused by the failure of the Perry County levee is making the job much easier.

"It (the water drop) has been a blessing to us," he said. "We can work on both sides of the levee. It is giving us time to strengthen and raise our levee and allows some of the residents who live on the outside of the levee to raise their private levees around their homes."

Even as Crews spoke, two homeowners were pumping out seep water and preparing to raise the sandbag levees around their homes to meet next week's crest. Another was taking advantage of the low water level that has exposed Highway 74 again to move furnishings and other belongings to higher ground.

Capt. Kent Eastman, company commander of the 1140th's headquarters company, said the unexpected drop in the water level has enabled his guardsmen to clear away the debris around the levee and repair holes in the plastic sheeting.

After the rock base is in place, Eastman said guardsmen will begin laying new sandbags over the existing levee to bring the entire levee up another five feet.

"We're using the expertise of the Corps people from Memphis and our manpower to build the levee," Eastman explained. "The 500-foot section of the levee that extends north of Route A along the existing Hubble Creek Levee will be the most labor-intensive part of the work because we cannot get our heavy equipment in there because of houses and buildings. That means all of the rock fill and sandbags will have to be put in by hand."

On Monday afternoon, the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, Cape Girardeau County Highway Department and National Guard began hauling sand to a staging area in Jackson where sandbags will be filled. Unlike previous sandbagging operations that were conducted at Dutchtown, Eastman said all sandbags will now be filled in Jackson.

Cape Girardeau County Emergency Services Coordinator Brian Miller said the staging area for sandbagging will be at the southeast corner of the intersection of East Jackson Boulevard (Highway 61) and Highway 25, in Jackson.

"We are needing volunteers the rest of this week to report to the staging area to fill sandbags for use in flooded areas of Cape Girardeau County," said Miller. "With the increase in the expected crest, there is a need for additional sandbags to heighten and strengthen existing levees."

Eastman said moving the sandbag operation to Jackson was done to reduce congestion and traffic and enhance safety at Dutchtown. "With all of the heavy equipment in use at Dutchtown this week, we did not want to have a large number of people, especially young children, in the vicinity of the equipment. The only people sandbagging at Dutchtown will be adults. As the sandbags are filled at Jackson, they will be transported to Dutchtown on one of our low-boy trailers."

While the work goes on to raise the Dutchtown levee, Corps officials are keeping a watchful eye on other levees in the area, including the Little River Drainage District's Diversion Channel levee, and the Memphis District's main stem levee that extends south of Commerce toward Cairo, Ill.

A spokesman said Monday that contrary to rumors, the Diversion Channel levee is in good shape. Earlier in the day Monday, there were rumors that Hardware Wholesalers, Inc., located on the Nash Road, was planning to evacuate that facility.

But Paul Friga, warehouse supervisor, that is not true. "We have made some contingency plans and taken a few measures to prepare for any eventuality, but at this time, we are not evacuating," he said. "We did the same kind of planning during the December earthquake thing. It's just good common sense to make plans.

"I don't know how this rumor got started. What we were doing was reported correctly on the noon news Monday, but right after the news ended, I started getting phone calls from other businesses on Nash Road, and as far away as Sikeston, wanting to know about our evacuation. I guess people only hear what they want to hear. The Corps has told us the levee is in good shape."

Corps officials said all relief wells along the Diversion Channel are running clear water as they were designed to do and are relieving seepwater pressure from inside of the levee.

Farther south, a large sand boil developed late Sunday afternoon on the main stem federal levee on the Mississippi River at Mile 13, south of Commerce and north of Buffalo Island. However, the boil was quickly contained.