Judge says Mississippi levee can be blown up

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Yahoo

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo (Reuters) – A federal judge on Friday ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can blow up a Mississippi River levee, which would flood Missouri farmland but prevent flooding an Illinois town.

U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. ruled that the Corps had the right to breach the levee to prevent flooding in Cairo, Illinois, as permitted by a 1928 law.

The levee breach would flood 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland, which contain about 90 homes. Missouri had filed suit to prevent the Corps from carrying out its plan.

Limbaugh wrote that he found that the Corps is committed to implementing the plan only as essential to provide protection to all citizens. He wrote "this Court finds that no aspect of the Corps' response to these historic floods suggests arbitrary or capricious decision-making is occurring."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110429/us_nm/us_weather_floods_missouri;_ylt=AtnhxAULiyMiJbOaWtn.ZOlvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTJycHMyczAyBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwNDI5L3VzX3dlYXRoZXJfZmxvb2RzX21pc3NvdXJpBGNwb3MDMgRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNmZWRlcmFsanVkZ2U-

[madrchsod]

1. you build in a flood plain you take your chances....

flood plains should have never been built on. levees are not the solution for every flood control situation.

[Scuba]

2. +1

[obxhead]

3. Exactly. Furthermore

no government money should be used to rebuild in repeatedly flooded areas.

[xchrom]

8. well said. nt

[primavera]

12. I agree, but I can't help wonder...

... whether the residents were the ones who chose to build on a flood plain, or it was developers who made that decision, got their millions, and are now long gone and off the hook.

[Strelnikov_]

13. Article with information on the New Madrid floodway

This has been in place since just after the 1927 flood.

The concept is to open the floodplain up to convey flood flows.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_d808ec00-fb8f-53ba-b44a-1b1f21c43ea8.html

The long-contemplated plan calls for breaching a levee on the Mississippi River at Bird's Point, just below its confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Ill., to let floodwater spread across 132,000 acres of sparsely settled bottomland. The area was designated for just that in 1928, the year after a historic flood on the lower Mississippi.

It's been used only once -- in 1937, the year of the record floods for Cairo and environs. But it pits about 200 residents of Mississippi County, Mo., against the 3,000 residents of Cairo, as well as people in other cities along the Ohio and the east bank of the Mississippi.

The Missourians live in the farmland along the designated New Madrid Floodway, which runs along the Mississippi from Bird's Point south for 34 miles before rejoining the river near New Madrid, Mo. A second line of levees as far as 14 miles inland are intended to keep water in the floodway.

http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pages/lmiss00.html

[jdadd]

4. This ruling coming from Rushs cousin?

[mountainlion55]

5. no relation

to rush I hope. I guess its like having Hitler as your last name:hippie:

[Shadowflash]

6. Hmm..

Odd that he has the same unusual last name and is a judge in Rush's home town.

That's quite the coincidence.

[the_chinuk]

7. Actually, they're cousins …

Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr is the son of Stephen Sr, who is the son of Rush Limbaugh Sr … Rush's dad's grandkid.

While it might be that just because two fellows from a certain insular area might not be related, given the parochial nature of the American small town, it's the way to bet, usually.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Yes they are related

Rush's cousin.

[madokie]

9. A judge with a name of limbaugh seems so wrong on so many levels :-)

[ingac70]

10. MO is where Rush's people are from. His dad was a judge I think.

Probably one of his relatives.

[madokie]

11. With a name like limbaugh I'm sure they're kin

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. And the courthouse in Cape Girardeau is named after his grandfather

The Limbaughs literally own SE MO.