seepage continues, the slope of the canal could weaken. The $100,000 project should
end the week of November 7.
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this year’s catastrophic flooding in the Missouri and Mississippi basins, Medill News
Service reported October 29. Last spring brought as much as 10 times the normal
rainfall to the south and midwest, which mixed with melting snow to produce record
river levels along the lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the Corps said. At a
Congressional committee hearing the week of October 24, Senators asked why the
Corps had not released more water from reservoirs to head off further problems before
the next flood season arrives. Officials with the Corps responded there would not be
enough time “to get the water out of the flood plain, out of farms, out of homes, out of
businesses” or for federal and state agencies to inspect and repair infrastructure before
the next flood season, which starts in March. The repair work — such as rebuilding the
Birds Point levee in Missouri, which was blasted during the summer flooding — has
stretched the Corps’ budget about as far as it can go, a division spokesman said. The
Corps identified 93 repair projects in the Mississippi basin south of St. Louis, more
than 20 of which are crucial to protecting people and property from damage in the next
flood season. If money were available, the Corps could complete the work before
March, but ”at the current funding levels, it may be difficult to do that,” officials said.
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