7/26/93
By: Brien Murphy
Courier-Post Staff Writer

Area levees along the Mississippi River ‹ the few that remain standing ‹ held firm over the weekend. Meanwhile, the Mississippi is rising again here after dropping sharply following the levee break at West Quincy Friday.

Levees in Canton, Pike County, Ill., and in south Quincy, Ill., all remained standing over the weekend.

The West Quincy levee break about 8:20 p.m. Friday evening not only covered 14,000 acres of land in the Fabius River Drainage District, but closed the final bridge in the area when water rushed across U.S. 24 at West Quincy. The closest bridge open today is in Burlington, Iowa, about 95 miles north of Hannibal (directions to Burlington are on page 2). The toll bridge at St. Francisville. into Lee County, Iowa, also is open, but may be reduced to one lane if debris collects under the bridge.

The Mississippi River at Hannibal dropped below 30 feet after the levee break before rising to 30.7 feet this morning. The river is expected to be near that level for several days, according to the National Weather Service in St. Louis.

There is a chance of thunderstorms in the area Tuesday.

A trolley service between Keokuk, Iowa, and Hamilton, Ill., has been established, but people are not allowed to drive between the two cities because the bridge there has been closed. The trolley uses a railroad track on the Union Electric dam to cross the river there.

U.S. 61 at the U.S. 24 junction near Taylor was closed Saturday until further notice because flood water reached the highway. Traffic is detoured northwest on Route 6 to Lewistown, and then northeast to Canton on Route 16. The detour adds about 20 minutes to the trip from Hannibal to Canton.

About 50 West Quincy homes and businesses are under water today, and will be for some time, officials said.

After the West Quincy levee broke, the river level in Quincy dropped more than two feet to 29.22 feet.

Within 45 minutes, the hole in the levee was about 300 feet long, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The fire at the Ayerco Oil Co. convenience store in West Quincy apparently started when a stranded barge plowed through the hole in the levee and hit large tanks filled with gasoline, according to officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Marion County Sheriff's office.

The gasoline spilled into the water, and the current carried the fire with it, according to eyewitnesses.

Even though the fire traveled with the oncoming flood water, it did not spread to other buildings in West Quincy, sheriffs officials said.

Missouri residents stranded on the Illinois side were taken to the Quincy University north campus, where the Red Cross opened a shelter.

No injuries were reported, according to the sheriff's office.

Levee workers were changing shifts when the burst was reported and only a few people were on the levee at the time.

Evening shift volunteers were being briefed at Knapheide Manufacturing Co. at the time and they were immediately evacuated.

More than 130 Missouri National Guard troops were changing shifts and were not on the levee when it broke about one-half mile north of the Bayview Bridge.

Many of those troops went to Canton, where a boil developed in the town levee late Friday, according to a National Guard press release.

Emergency officials in Canton issued an evacuation order about 10:45 p.m. Friday when a boil was found in the levee.

Terry Fretwell, Canton's emergency management director, said malfunctions in two pipes at the town's former water plant kept water valves near the levee from closing. At the same time, a pump that pumped water over the levee into the Mississippi River malfunctioned.

A boil soon developed, and Canton officials feared the levee would break. But after Canton Mayor Jesse Franks broadcast pleas for help, the boil was under control and the levee survived through the weekend.

Members of the Missouri National Guard arrived during the weekend in Canton to take over levee walking from volunteers, who Fretwell said are "exhausted.²

Twenty-four National Guard soldiers will continue patrolling Hannibal's levee and the surrounding area until the crisis is over, according to the Hannibal Police Department.

At the Sny Drainage District levee in Pike County, Ill., volunteers and flood workers continue to work on the 52-mile levee, the second-longest in the U.S.

In Clarksville, the river was at 37.03 feet at Lock and Dam 24 today, down from Saturday's level of 37.5 feet. The downtown temporary levees continued to hold during the weekend.

The river was down to 38.7 feet at Lock and Dam 25 in Winfield today after cresting at 39.07 feet Saturday night.

However, the river is expected to begin rising again in Winfield by Tuesday.