IN THE PHOTO, Memphis District floodfighters, working with our local partners from the Cairo (Illinois) Drainage District, Alexander County Emergency Management, and Illinois Emergency Management Agency, yesterday (Feb. 21) installed and began operating a high capacity pump at Cottonwood Slough. This is located between the communities of Urbandale and Mound City, Illinois. The Corps of Engineers provided the 16-inch pump and local officials supplied a 310 horsepower tractor to drive it. The pump is removing interior water from the protected side of the levee resulting from heavy rains and backwater from Cache River and pumping it over the mainline levee and into the Ohio River. The Memphis District is today sending a portable Automatic Power Unit (APU) to the area to operate a second pump. Partnerships like this are a key element of every successful floodfight.