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CAT Tracks for May 10, 2011
A WEEK OF CIVIL EMERGENCY? |
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Cairo...
...the Mayor declares a "Civil Emergency"...until May 17th!?
A curfew is ordered between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
From the articles, the Mayor apparently fears sand boils and sink holes. The Mayor told the media that there had been no disturbances or misbehavior by the city's residents that had prompted his imposition of the curfew. Apparently the reduced visibility between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. is the concern...that residents might step or drive into a sand boil or a sink hole.
May the 17th would seem a bit much, but maybe the Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency are still calling the shots.
Allowing residents to re-enter the city from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning last Friday (after telling an assembled group of evacuees in Marion last Thursday night that it wasn't going to happen) was a good move by Cairo Mayor Tyrone Coleman...defusing what was becoming a tense situation. When Cairo residents were allowed to return to their properties, assess the damage (or lack thereof) with their own eyes, and begin the clean-up and/or resume the normal maintenance process, well, the lack of information from city officials for them became moot.
However, there are hundreds of residents who have NOT returned during "visiting hours", who are awaiting official word that the mandatory evacuation has been lifted and that they may return to the city with their personal belongings...to stay. For them, yesterday's announcement surely proved disheartening...an apparent escalation of the crisis rather than word of its passage.
(CAT Tracks Editor's Note: Purely speculation on my part...maybe a declaration of "Civil Emergency" is a "trigger" or a "hoop to jump through" in order to qualify for one or more types of disaster aid.)
Speaking of which...
One thing has NOT changed in Cairo.
Despite last Thursday night's acknowledgment of a problem in communicating facts to the public (resulting in the rise and spread of rumors and lies) and assurances of a remedy, there STILL is no official source of information where residents can turn in a crisis.
I have talked to several people who have called City Hall or the Police Station during the past two weeks, only to listen to the unanswered ringing of a phone, or to be told "I don't know"...often in a surly tone.
If city officials do not want a flood of rumors and lies, they need to fill the void with information, with FACTS.
Below is the latest about the declared civil emergency and curfew...
From the WPSD TV Channel 6 Website
Link to Original Story (Includes a 3-Minute Video)
Cairo still unsafe
Reporter - Jason Hibbs
Story Created: May 9, 2011 at 10:09 PM CDT
CAIRO, Ill. — What would you do if there were no water around your house, you feel safe returning but the city won't let you go home to stay?
That's what thousands of evacuees from Cairo, Illinois, are experiencing.
The mayor says the city is now in a state of civil emergency. It still isn't safe. You can only go there during the day if that's where you live and even then, you enter at your own risk.
Sandy Winn's cat "Blue" takes it easy on a sunny Monday.
"That's all she does is chill," Winn said.
Winn wants to do the same.
"That's what I do when I come here, just to sit on my porch and work in my yard," she said.
But now things are different. She has little time after work to check on her home.
"It's terrible because it's all I got and I was forced to leave my home," she said.
But Mayor Tyrone Coleman said residents had good reason to evacuate.
"It's been a taxing time," said Coleman. "I know there's been a lot of concern but everything we've done, we've done it with safety in mind."
It's sand boils like the one just a few hundred feet from Sandy's home causing concern.
The mayor said right now there are six sand boils in the city. They're all under control but just this morning another one popped up.
Winn watched the one near her house last week.
"I saw it getting bigger and people like in an assembly line getting sand bags," she recalled.
But now, she feels the situation is under control and just wants to come home.
That civil emergency comes with a new curfew. No one except police and emergency officials are allowed outside from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. That's in effect until May 17.
Mayor Coleman said he hopes the curfew will be lifted sometime between now and next Tuesday, because after all, the river levels are going down. Then folks can move back in to stay and all the businesses can reopen.
The mayor said besides help from FEMA, he's trying to get additional money to help pay for individual evacuation costs.
From the Southern Illinoisan...
Cairo mayor orders curfew
BY BRENT STEWART, THE SOUTHERN
CAIRO - Mayor Tyrone Coleman declared a civil emergency in Cairo on Monday, imposing a curfew on the city between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Only emergency personnel will be allowed on the streets of Cairo, which has still not officially given the OK for evacuated residents to return because of safety concerns within the city.
Last week, Coleman said a number of internal infrastructure problems made the city unsafe.
Portions of a railroad overpass on Sycamore Street near Cairo Junior/Senior High School collapsed last Monday. Crews from Canadian National Railway are continuing to repair these sections.
Part of 15th Street near Cairo City Hall caved in, as well as a portion of 16th Street. Sinkholes in front of the Cairo Public Works building have also grown immensely, one of which is more than 8 feet in diameter and about 10 feet deep.
Tom Morgan, civil engineer and area commander the Cairo Flood Fight Team of the Memphis district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the sinkholes were related to seepage at pumping stations as well as pressure from continued high river levels.
The Ohio River at Cairo was at 58.07 feet Monday night, down from a record 61.72 feet a week ago.
Despite infrastructure issues, Morgan was confident about Cairo's levee system, which the Corps continues to monitor.
"Our main concern right now is the stability of our system and the system is holding well," Morgan said. "It hasn't had any issues. It's safe, it's held."
Morgan said the Corps continues to monitor sand boil activity in Cairo, which developed over the last few weeks. Although there was no evidence of this happening at this time, Morgan said the concern would be if the sand boils were removing foundation material from the levee, leading to movement of the floodwall and possible collapse.
"That would be the biggest risk of failure we see at this time," Morgan said.
Photojournalist - Mark Owen
(Story Updated: May 9, 2011 at 10:28 PM CDT)
Posted: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 5:00 am
