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Voice of The Southern: Flood is easing, but Southern Illinois cannot be forgotten

Posted: Sunday, May 8, 2011 1:00 am

Our view: The worst may be over for our flood-ravaged region, but we're going to need a lot of help and money in the months ahead.

It will be many weeks, months in some areas, before the record-setting floodwaters fully recede from the ravaged communities bordering the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and along major tributaries, such as the Big Muddy River in Southern Illinois.

For now, the threats to lives and property that increased daily for more than a week have significantly eased. Thankfully, the monsoon-like rains and shattering thunderstorms have abated. For many of us in Southern Illinois, the worst may be over. God, we hope so.

The Ohio River crested last week, and an extraordinary series of explosions orchestrated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blew holes in a levee and stopped the floodwaters from swallowing whole the historic community of Cairo - the place at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers used as a Civil War base of operations by Union Army General U.S. Grant.

The plan to deliberately breach the levee between the Missouri bootheel communities of New Madrid and Birds Point pitted the states of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky against Missouri in a public policy issue destined to disappoint many people - regardless of the final decision. What likely prompted the ruling sought by Cairo and Illinois was the bottom-line of the issue: People versus property. Cairo is a city of nearly 3,000 people, including a significant number who remained in their flood threatened homes. The land impacted by the breached levee is valuable farmland with far less population density.

Our region is grateful for rulings in federal court, including a refusal to interfere by the U.S. Supreme Court justice assigned to the Midwest, that enabled the Corps to consider and execute a plan that was both drastic and necessary. Cairo's then-mayor, Judson Childs, described his city as on the brink of becoming another New Orleans, after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Cairo is largely African-American, with an aging population lacking resources to seek temporary housing elsewhere.

It is unfortunate, however, that our across-the-river neighbors in Missouri had to pay such a heavy price. By allowing the surging Mississippi waters through the levee, pressure was almost immediately reduced in Cairo, but the bootheel farmers won't be able to plant this season, although some hope for a late-summer soybean crop. We feel nothing but compassion for anyone impacted by floodwaters covering more than 100,000 acres, and impacting as many as 100 homes, but also remember the area was designated as a floodplain by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following the massive floods of 1927.

In 1937, the same levee was intentionally breached with an explosion to minimize flood damage. But there was not another similar action taken until last week. The fertile lands of a floodplain provide great agricultural opportunities, but not without risk. There may have been a false sense of security created by 74-year gap between levee breaches, and some people who developed on the land may not have been fully aware of the risks.

We hope the bootheel's agribusinesses are adequately protected by crop insurance, and believe state and federal courts will thoughtfully administer whatever judicial remedies that may be applicable. But we would be remiss without personally thanking the people of Missouri for their sacrifices.

Gratitude aside, and it is expressed sincerely, our region's state and federal lawmakers need to remain on the watch for flood damage claims and needed relief. Each has performed well during the worst of the crisis, but the extent of the damages won't be fully known until the waters recede. Southern Illinois occasionally slips below the radar of state and federal government; this can't be one of those times. We don't ask for much down here, but this time we're really going to need help. Don't forget about us!

Feedback: We want to hear what you have to say. Type your thoughts about our editorials by clicking on the "discussion" tab in the online version of this opinion at www.thesouthern.com/news/opinion/ If you want to see your comments in the newspaper, e-mail them directly to gary.metro@thesouthern.com along with your name, address and telephone number.

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Another Cairoite had a different take on the editorial posted above...

From: Bobby Mayberry
Date: 5/8/2011 7:51:47 PM
To: gary.metro@thesouthern.com
Subject: Sunday's editorial

The Southern, too?

What is it about the simple fact that the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway was not activated just to save Cairo that cannot be understood by much of the news media? Is it because Cairo vs farmers makes good headlines?

I don’t know the answer, but I do know that it is bad journalism to continue the misconception.

Spokesmen of the Corps of Engineers, from Major General Michael Walsh on down, stressed at almost every press conference that this was about much more than saving Cairo. It was written in their documents, on their Facebook page and it was part of the argument in the hearing in front of Judge Stephen Limbaugh. Kentucky did not ask to join the lawsuit as a defendant to save Cairo; Tennessee was not worried about Cairo when they issued a brief supporting the Corps.

I could show quotes, but every reporter has also seen them. Since they were ignored when the Corps made them, they would be ignored if I repeat them.

There was one article that had a headline that said the levee was breached to save Cairo. In the article, Maj Gen Walsh was quoted as specifically saying it was about the entire system, not just Cairo. The reporters either totally missed the quote they put in their own article or they thought they knew more than the President of the Mississippi River Commission.

Obviously, the reporters had their mind made up before they started their research, but good journalism requires some flexibility when the facts of a story do not fit the preconceived notions.

The Sunday editorial did not let the facts interfere with what the writer wanted the story to be.

That, to me, is quite sad.