Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Big Bang theory to save Cairo, Illinois

Janice Bigham, center, and friends help her sandbag her flooded home in Olive Branch, Ill., near Cairo. Most of Cairo's residents have been evacuated. (Jeff Roberson, AP / May 1, 2011)


Click title for video - thank you

The river level feel two feet so far.



The Army Corps of Engineers activated the first set of explosions (clickc title to entry - thank you) at the Birds Point, Mo., levee late Monday in an effort to save Cairo, Ill., from disastrous flooding.
Overnight, with a thunderous boom and a brilliant flash against a black sky, the corps set off the charges and turned 130,000 acres of farmland into a muddy lake and lowered the Mississippi River by three to four feet.
"[The Cairo levee] continues to be under enormous and unprecedented pressure," said Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh during a news conference Monday....