A makeshift barrier holding back the Mississippi River failed early Saturday, swamping the low-lying part of the small community of Winfield and ending a valiant but ultimately doomed battle against the surging river.
About 300 National Guard soldiers worked nearly 20 hours to build a levee around a cluster of 100 homes in the flood plain after the river ripped through another levee there early Friday. Officials hoped the barrier would keep the water at bay long enough for it to recede.
It didn't. Still, those in the town of 720 people said they won't forget the heroic effort to try saving the neighborhood.
"I figured it was a long shot," said Jan Fox, 50, who finally left her mobile home Friday night when her power went out. She called the show of support overwhelming.
"It was wonderful, all the people who came, the sandbaggers, the military," she said.
Overall, the Midwest storms and torrential rains have killed at least 24 people since late May. More than 38,000 people have been driven from their homes, mostly in Iowa where 83 of 99 counties have been declared disaster areas.
Thunderstorms this week that had added to a month-long deluge let up and drier, cooler weather was forecast for saturated areas of Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.
Many ready to move forward
Around Winfield Saturday, gratitude for the last-ditch effort against the rising waters was mixed with a feeling of resignation. Many were ready to move forward.
"It was a valiant effort," said Chris Azar of the Winfield-Foley Fire Department. "It's unfortunate that we couldn't do more, but Mother Nature won. Now, just give it time for the water to recede."
At a Red Cross shelter at Winfield High School, the sound of hundreds of volunteers' shovels hitting sand and backhoes transporting sandbags had been a fixture for days. On Saturday lot was largely quiet, while National Guard troops slept on cots inside after working through the night. A handful of residents, like Fox, began to make plans to stay with family or friends to wait out the river rise.
The new barrier had a steel frame with layers of dirt, plastic and sandbags. But water began seeping below and through around midnight, and it was clear in the hours before sunrise it was not going to hold.
At least 60 homes in the cluster were flooded, Azar said, although authorities were still assessing the damage.
Many other homes in Winfield sit on a hill above the river and are well out of harm's way.
Winfield, 45 miles northwest of St. Louis, is in Lincoln County, which has been particularly hard hit by flooding caused by torrential rain that fell across the Midwest in early June.
County emergency operations spokesman Andy Binder said 92 homes have been destroyed and 36 others have major damage; 650 can't be evaluated yet because they remain inaccessible.
Mayor says stay out of town
In nearby Foley, the mayor requested that anyone who doesn't live there stay out of town. The wake caused by vehicles driving through floodwaters was causing more problems for already damaged homes.
The Mississippi is receding at Winfield and towns to the north but remains well above flood stage. Crests are expected reach St. Louis on Monday and Cape Girardeau in southeastern Missouri on Wednesday.
Cape Girardeau, where the river's flood stage is 32 feet, is expected to see a crest of 42.5 feet. At that level, some residents will have to leave and 100,000 acres of farmland will be flooded, the National Weather Service said.
Elsewhere in the state, heavy rain drenched much of southwestern Missouri early Saturday, causing widespread flooding of low-lying areas and roads.
Up to 5 inches of rain fell in two hours in Taney County, where a bridge along Lake Taneycomo collapsed and emergency workers had to evacuate around 15 people from a flooded mobile home park, said Chris Berndt, the county's emergency management director. No one was hurt in the bridge collapse, he said.
Across the central part of the state, the Missouri River, which joins the Mississippi near St. Louis, is rising because of heavy rain that fell on Thursday and early Friday. The National Weather Service predicts moderate flooding in parts of mid-Missouri by Monday.
While Winfield lost the battle to save its levee, some Missouri towns have apparently weathered the threat.
The levee held at Alexandria, a tiny town near the Iowa state line, and water is receding, allowing evacuees to move back home. A few houses had water inside, but nothing irreparable.
A massive sandbagging effort was still protecting most of the businesses in Clarksville, and water was still high but receding in nearby Louisiana. Both of those towns don't have levees.
