Corps of Engineers raises floodfight response to Phase II

MEMPHIS, Tenn., March 21, 2008 – The Memphis District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
initiated Phase II floodfighting activities at 7 a.m. today due to high Mississippi River stages. The area
of flooding is located in the northern portion of the Memphis District.

The lands affected by the current high water are located along the Mississippi River on the west
bank Scott City, Missouri, to the Arkansas-Missouri state line and on the east bank from Cairo, Illinois.
Phase II floodfight activities begin when the river gage at Cairo, Ill., approaches approximately
52.0 feet or the Cape Girardeau, Mo., gage reaches 43.0 feet. The river stage at Cairo was 50.9 feet
Friday morning, with a crest of 54 feet expected on Tuesday, March 25. The river stage at Cape
Girardeau was 40 feet on Friday morning, and was expected to crest on the afternoon of March 23.
In response to these river forecasts, Memphis District Commander Col. Tom Smith initiated

Phase II operations at 7 a.m. on Friday, March 21.

During Phase II floodfight activities, Corps of Engineers personnel begin more intensive
monitoring of flood control works including levees, floodwalls and pumping stations.
Technical and materiel assistance to local communities and flood control organizations is also
made available to aid them in their floodfighting efforts.

The Corps has established field offices in Cape Girardeau, Mo., with eight Corps emergency
workers on duty there, Caruthersville, Mo., with seven workers there and Dyersburg, Tenn., staffed by
nine emergency workers.

The Corps’ Division headquarters in Vicksburg, Miss, coordinates all floodfight activities in the
Lower Mississippi Valley. The Corps’ Emergency Operations Center in Memphis is directing floodfight
activities in conjunction with the affected states, levee districts and other local interest groups.

The Federal flood protection works in the Lower Mississippi Valley protect many thousands of
homes, millions of lives and vast tracts of fertile cropland. The Memphis District’s flood control system
has prevented more than $4.3 billion in flood damages and protected more than five million acres of
cropland in the last decade alone.