For many Cairoites, the mood yesterday was festive indeed as they were allowed back into the city after a 6-day forced evacuation. As related earlier, the "hours of visitation" were from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. (no sleepover privileges.) This is supposed to continue daily "until further notice."

Yours truly (already fooled once...shame on the former mayor) once again played by the rules (hopefully didn't play the fool.) I arrived around noon and left at 6 p.m. sharp.

During that time, I was able to vacuum the standing water (not much, but smelly from being left unattended) from my finished basement. Having replaced two rooms of carpets with tile after a wet April a few years back, I have only only one room left carpeted (with the indoor-outdoor variety.) Other than filing cabinets and book cases standing on the still-wet carpet, the smell, and the mold sprouting on the walls in the downstairs bathroom, it would appear that I "lucked out", made it through relatively unscathed.

And...

A drive through town seemed to indicate that I was not alone.

Cairo looks like, well...Cairo. (That nasty, agreeing chuckle you just heard was from MO Speaker of the House Steven "Let Cairo Flood" Tilley.)

Yes, Cairo has seen better days. However, for those of us who have toughed it out and chosen to stay beyond the "glory days"...it provided familiar comfort. Indeed, there is no place like home...

• As you entered town through "the tunnel", there was no water at the next railroad overpass, no re-routing traffic around Cairo Jr/Sr High School.

• The parking lot in front of the McGinness Florist and NAPA Parts building is piled high with sandbags and assorted flood-fighting supplies...strategically placed to resume the fight (if need be) against the "Monster Sand Boil" that tried to eat Cairo.

• There were a few new potholes, although a visitor (with broken axle souvenir) would not be able to distinguish the old from the new. (But, hey...there aren't suppose to be any visitors. This is a "residents-only party".

• Banks, businesses, and the post office remain tightly shuttered. (Cairoites can pick up their mail at the Mounds post office.)

• The Ohio River levee wall is still standing, its flood gates in place.

• Downtown, between 11th and 12th and Commercial (in front of the Cairo Public Utility building), they have placed large concrete barriers (like you see at highway construction sites) across the road to prevent unwary drivers from disappearing into the sink holes (and never being seen nor heard from again.) Yes, they are large, but nothing the locals haven't seen before.

• The only noticeable water was on the west side of town. (Disclaimer: I did not drive through all the streets of Cairo, so if I missed something dramatic...feel free to clue me in. I will be happy to pass the information along. Double Disclaimer: Just FACTS...no rumors, no LIES!) Anyway, I drove south on Holbrook Street to where it curves and becomes Center Street. There was water standing off to the right in the weedy field (where it has oft stood before.) Completing the turn, the water continued to stand on the right side of Center Street (although the street itself was high and dry.) Approaching the corner of Center and Cedar, there were a couple of houses on the right completely surrounded by water (although the water was not up to the maybe one-step high porches.) Evidently the back yard was a low spot, because a metal shed had water up halfway on its door. Taking a right at Cedar, driving down to the Daystar facility, the water covered half of the parking lot, but was not near the entrance. Driving down the street past the side of Daystar, you could see water standing in the yard. Water was standing in the field to the south of the building, looked to be maybe halfway up the concrete block foundation. Turning east at 19th Street, heading toward Washington Avenue there was more water surrounding a couple of buildings (although it did not appear to be high enough to enter. Don't know whether the houses had basements. If they did, "had" is the operative word.) The only other place that I noticed significant water was in a lot on the south side of the Klondike Holy Temple building that sits on the east-side corner of MLK Avenue and 19th Street. The street that runs beside the building on the north side is high and dry.

• The streets around the Elmwood Projects and the adjoining neighborhood had been completely covered with water when we were ordered out of the city last Saturday. Today...high and dry.

• Unnoticed on the way into town, but pretty impressive (and spooky) on the way out...the landslides on both sides of "the tunnel" (pictures posted earlier this week)...and the cranes and construction crews trying to address the situation.

And that's it!

Bears repeating...

Cairo looks like, well...Cairo.

BTW...

My description above and my comments in previous posts are NOT intended to downplay or dismiss the FACT that the City of Cairo was stressed to the limit last week. When the sky was dropping inches of rain by the hour on the city, when the river was approaching the 61-foot (historic) marker...nobody on this earth knew what might happen. The levee wall could have indeed collapsed. The landslides that occurred on both sides of "the tunnel" could have been more widespread and could have closed one of the two remaining "escape routes" (the other route being the Mississippi River levee road with its own high waters.) We could have well been like rats drowning in the watery bowl created by our "protective" levee system. In short, I didn't like being forced to leave, but I couldn't honestly question the decision.

My ire (and the ire of hundreds of others) was the manner in which the order was given (without informing the residents of their option to stay) and, then, the later revelation that those who defied the order were rewarded with "in-and-out privileges." This bubbling ire was then compounded by the lack of communications from city officials (departing and incoming) as to when the exile would end. With mounting bills, good weather, and reports from inside Cairo that there were no visible threats...anger built and threatened to breach the walls of decorum. That emotion was very evident at the meeting attended by Cairo Mayor Tyrone Coleman and maybe 40 evacuees/refugees on Thursday night at the Marion Fairfield Inn.

Whether this was the tipping point (the Mayor had said during the meeting that residents would NOT be allowed in-and-out priviliges...or whether the Army Corps of Engineers and IEMA (whom the Mayor said were responsible for the decision NOT to allow residents back in) coincidentally changed their assessment...we will probably never know.

Bottom Line:

The decision to allow residents back into the city (even on a restricted basis) is a good thing...and came not a moment too soon. There were a growing number of normally patient and law-abiding individuals who were about to lose their religion!

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Yes, count me among that number.

I had penned yet another inflammatory missive yesterday morning, but had taken a brief break prior to "pulling the trigger." Then came the news...Cairo is open for business!!! Ron's "Unfinished Rant" rested unsent upon the laptop as me and my 95-year-old mother sprinted for the car and burned rubber toward the Promised Land, the Garden of Eden.

Hey, laugh if you will, it's true what they say...