JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to decide soon on its plan to breach a southeastern Missouri levee as the Mississippi River continues to rise.
Corps spokesman Jim Pogue says agency officials will meet Tuesday afternoon to consider whether to blow holes in the Birds Point levee along the Mississippi River, near Mississippi and New Madrid (MAD'-rihd) counties.
The move would ease pressure along the Mississippi by reducing the amount of water moving downstream. Numerous points along the river are at or near flood stage, and the Corps believes the move is necessary as a precaution.
But Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is objecting to the plan, saying the breach would send "a tremendous amount of water into 130,000 acres of prime farmland."