Road restoration work begins near Birds Point

CHARLESTON, Mo. (AP) - A southeast Missouri county is beginning work to restore roads damaged by the intentional breach of the Birds Point Levee at the height of Mississippi River flooding earlier this spring.

The Sikeston Standard Democrat reports that Mississippi County crews have been busy building low-water crossings and getting permission for alternate routes across private land in cases where that is needed.

County commissioner Steve Jones says the goal is to get temporary roads built so farmers can get back to their fields.

The Army Corps of Engineers intentionally breached the levee in early May to relieve pressure on the floodwall at nearby Cairo, Ill. The breach reduced the water level at Cairo and the town was spared, but an estimated 130,000 acres of rich Missouri farmland was inundated.


Information from: Standard Democrat, http://www.standard-democrat.com