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Levee break floods thousands of acres Gulfport's levee held; river breached berm at Carthage Lake By JEFF ABELL jabell@thehawkeye.com Reprinted from the June 18th edition of The Hawk Eye "I am numb right now. We lost our fight against the river," said Ruth Christofferson Tuesday evening hours after learning her home in Gulfport, Ill., had been swallowed by the Mississippi River. A breach early Tuesday morning at a levee at Carthage Lake in rural Henderson County, Ill, halted traffic from Iowa to Illinois and sent water from the Mississippi River cascading across thousands of acres of farmland and into the streets of Gulfport. By Tuesday evening the entire village of about 200 was under about 10 feet of water. "We've lost her," Henderson County Sheriff Mike Lumbeck said. "It was headed into town at a pretty good clip. We knew once it hit the railroad track all bets were off." Gulfport residents were evacuated Sunday. Most, including Christofferson, left belongings behind. "We were able to remove most of our personal items, but our furniture is still there. I have lived in Gulfport my whole life. My memories are now underwater," Christofferson said. The breach at the levee about three miles south of Gulfport happened at about 5 a.m. Tuesday. It was the result of a 300 foot gash in the sandbag barrier, according to Lumbeck. ÒWe donÕt know what caused the gash. Right now, it's a we donÕt have time to solve," he said. Within a few hours of the breach, a two-mile section of U.S. 34 was under two feet of water, prompting the closure of the Great River Bridge that connects Gulfport to Burlington and stranding commuters. "It's a mess. The highway is completely underwater," said Terry Painter, a Henderson County highway employee. U.S. 34 could be under as much as 1o feet of water within the next 24 hours, according to Illinois Department of Transportation. It may be weeks before the flooded section can be reopened, he added. "Don't expect a quick fix. Once the water recedes, the damage will have to be assessed," he said. The Carthage Lake levee break caused a chain reaction that resulted in Lake Stevenson being swamped and then nearby Gulfport. Dozens of homes in the vicinity of Lake Stevenson were evacuated over the weekend. The rising water consumed about 5,000 acres of farmland and trapped two volunteers sandbagging on the levee before it broke, along with three residents trapped on a roof of a home near Carthage Lake. Two medivac helicopters and a third one from the Illinois Department of Transportation evacuated those stranded. Illinois DOT officials that at least 400 people were displaced by Tuesdays levee break. A shelter has been set up at the West Central High School two miles west of Biggsville, Ill. In Gladstone, Ill, volunteers worked feverishly to bolster a makeshift barrier that may soon succumb to the rising waters. The Mississippi in Burlington is expected to crest at about 25.4 feet later today. "It's starting to weaken. They are doing their best to keep it from being breached," Lumbeck said. Sandbagging efforts also continued in Oquaka, Ill, where residents bracing for the worse flocked to Fisher Foods, Inc for food staples such as milk and bread. "The mood of the people who come in here are optimistic. They think we will be able to hold back the river," said grocery store employee Tammy Bundy. Back in Gulfport, the levee along the Mississippi where volunteers worked over the weekend to secure was doing its job keeping out flood waters. The irony was not lost on Lumbeck. "The levee we were worried about held. in the end, it didnÕt matter because the water just found another way in," he said. At the Howard Johnson Inn in Burlington Tuesday evening, Christofferson and her husband, Jim, worked to maintain a sense of optimism. "You have to keep telling yourself itÕs just your home. We are safe and dry, and that is what matters," she said. |
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