The Glade 4.0

(CNN) -- With a series of blasts that briefly illuminated the night sky like lightning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began blowing up a Mississippi River levee overnight, flooding about 200 square miles of rich farmland in an effort to bring down historic river levels and spare the city of Cairo, Illinois and other communities.

The controversial decision to breach the Birds Point-New Madrid levee appeared to be working, said Col. Vernie Reichling, commander of the Corps' Memphis district.

The Ohio River at Cairo peaked at 61.72 feet just before the blast late Monday -- the highest level on record, according to the National Weather Service. By 6 a.m. Tuesday, it had fallen to 60.62 feet, according to river gauge readings provided by the Corps. Even that still exceeds the previous record of 59.5 feet set in 1937, according to Weather Service records.

The breach could cause river levels to fall by three to four feet over the next few days, according to Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the Corps' Mississippi River Valley Division.

Without an intentional breach, authorities had warned of massive flooding that could wipe out the city of Cairo, which sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Cairo's mayor had already ordered the city's 2,800 residents to evacuate.
Missouri officials took the Corps to court over the plan, questioning the agency's authority to intentionally breach the levee. The state argued the flood waters would deposit silt on the some 130,000 acres of farmland that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon described as "literally the most productive part of our continent."

The silt, he said, would take years to clear, causing long-lasting damage.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case on Sunday, clearing the way for Walsh's decision to blow the levee.
Nixon estimated it will take tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the intentional flooding.
Walsh said the fate of Cairo was just one of many factors in his decision, saying he hoped the move would alleviate issues throughout the Mississippi River system. Water levels and flooding have hit record highs in many spots, putting severe strains on systems meant to prevent uncontrolled floods and the resulting loss of life and property.

"Nobody has seen this type of water in the system," he said. "This is unprecedented."

He called the decision to inundate the farmland and about 100 homes "heart-wrenching."

"I've been involved with flooding for 10 years and it takes a long time to recover from something like this," he said.
The initial series of blasts happened late Monday. Engineers then set the second charges overnight and planned to detonate them early Tuesday. A third series of detonations will follow, according to the Corps.

The governors of Illinois and Missouri said authorities in both states are prepared for the blast and subsequent flooding, according to prepared statements.

"I urge Missourians to continue to cooperate fully with state, county and local law enforcement, as they have at every stage of this process," Nixon said. "Together, we will ensure that Missouri families stay safe in the coming days. And together, we will recover and rebuild."

A statement released by Quinn's office called the decision to breach the levee "an important step to ensure public safety as we respond to this crisis."

Even as the river was falling, Walsh did not rule out similar moves elsewhere along the Mississippi and its tributaries, saying the levee system is already under unprecedented pressure and warning water levels could rise again.

"This doesn't end this historic flood," he said.

I thought flooding was GOOD for farmland generally?

I thought flooding was GOOD for farmland generally?

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

From what I can tell, Cairo is a town at the end of a long decline. It was over 5 times its current size in the 20's when the river and railway were still a noteworthy trade routes. It's lost 800 residents in the last decade. It's a ghost town in the making, from what I can tell.

I don't disagree, Arathain. What bothers me is, it appears the Army Corps of Engineers made this call against that advice of the politicians quoted, with no reference to support from other politicians.

so you're saying you'd RATHER it was a political decision than a decision by experts?

I don't disagree, Arathain. What bothers me is, it appears the Army Corps of Engineers made this call against that advice of the politicians quoted, with no reference to support from other politicians.

We've got the Governor of MO saying "this was a bad move, that was valuable, productive farmland." We don't have anybody but the head Engineer saying "save the town." At least, not in the articles I read.

That said, I ponder the entire notion of politicians deciding what to save from Acts of God and go, "hmm."

For the second time in two weeks, Gov. Pat Quinn visited southern Illinois' flood zone. This time, however, Quinn put his boots on the ground in Cairo, the town threatened to be overrun with flood waters from both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

The governor took some criticism last week for visiting Marion, 50 miles north of Cairo, instead of the flood-stricken city.

During his Monday trip to Cairo, Quinn announced the deployment of additional 100 National Guardsmen to help fill new sandbags in the battle to fight the flooding in towns along the rising Ohio River. That brings the total up to 485 guardsmen, Quinn said.

“I think with God’s help we will get through this crisis,” Quinn said. “And I think it is important to realize that our state government, we will spend whatever necessary to fight this flood.”

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

Another tidbit to toss into the discussion:

Estimates I've seen on the amount of arable land necessary to support a person's dietary needs in a balanced Western diet hover around one and a quarter acres. So this 130,000 acres of farmland feeds, at a guess, 100,000 people. Even if we're only wiping out one year's worth of crops, and we can rebuild all the structures and make it agriculturally ready again by next year's planting season, that's 100,000 people somewhere in the world who don't get the food they would have had.

Now, I'm not a blind idealist. I realize that there's a limit to the portability of that food. If you try to ship it to Africa, most of that is going to be lost in transit as it goes bad. But we've got plenty of demand for food here in the States. The economic cost is also going to include the increased cost of foodstuffs in some radius around the affected land. The bigger the radius, obviously, the less the marginal cost will bump up, but the more people will be affected.

Another tidbit to toss into the discussion:

Estimates I've seen on the amount of arable land necessary to support a person's dietary needs in a balanced Western diet hover around one and a quarter acres. So this 130,000 acres of farmland feeds, at a guess, 100,000 people. Even if we're only wiping out one year's worth of crops, and we can rebuild all the structures and make it agriculturally ready again by next year's planting season, that's 100,000 people somewhere in the world who don't get the food they would have had.

Now, I'm not a blind idealist. I realize that there's a limit to the portability of that food. If you try to ship it to Africa, most of that is going to be lost in transit as it goes bad. But we've got plenty of demand for food here in the States. The economic cost is also going to include the increased cost of foodstuffs in some radius around the affected land. The bigger the radius, obviously, the less the marginal cost will bump up, but the more people will be affected.

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

Bear in mind that of this 130,000 acres, not all of it is active farmland, but assuming it was, that would be approximately one hundredth of one percent of the US farm area. It is also unlikely that the active acreage was all dedicated to human food production (think ethanol, etc). And it won't be a total loss, either.

So in the overall scheme of things, it's not likely to make very many people hungry.

I wonder if part of the problem, too, is that flood water is no longer nice and clean the way the Nile might have been. Probably a lot of toxic crap, heavy metals, etc. in the silt that's gonna get laid down by this.

But overall, short-term vs. long-term says, for me, blow it!