MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 15, 2005 – Prompted by again-rising Mississippi and Ohio river levels, the Memphis District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will re-initiate Phase II floodfighting activities at 6 a.m. Sunday. 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 50.3 feet Friday, with a crest of 54.5 expected on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The river stage at Cape Girardeau was 32.1 feet on Friday, with a crest of 38.5 feet expected on Jan. 18.
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 will again establish field offices in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Caruthersville, Mo., and Dyersburg, Tenn., each staffed by eight or nine emergency workers.
The Corps’ Division headquarters in Vicksburg, Miss, coordinates all floodfight activities in the 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.
Release no. 05-04