Evening star., 1937-01-26
SP|LLWAY AVERTS
| CA|ROFLOODPER|L
Levee Cut to Save Town
and Secondary Dixie Is
Strengthened.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
CAIRO, ILL.,, January 26.-Relief
boats cruised about . 13l. .000-acre
Mississippi River fioodway today,
speeding rescue to Missouri lowlanders
trapped in the basin. which was in
undated In q desperate battle to save
Cairo from the hood-swollen Ohio
River.
Red Cross officials and q Missouri
State Highway Department engineer
said at least 200 were caught when
the Mississippi tumbled through crum-
bling leveeS to course across the
$21 100000 Birds Point-New Madrid,
Mo-, fioodway, near the Mississippi
Ohio confluence below here. A Ma
tional Guard aviator, however. re-
ported none in the area.
Red Cross officials, directing relief
boats from New Madrid, Mo-, said the
refugees did not appear in immediate
peril. AS soon as they were taken
from the food most Of them were
rushed to the court house at New
Madrid. then sent to Sikeston. No..
away from the river.
Seawall Strengthened.
Army engineers dynamited through
the levee to send the Mississippi into
the spreading hoodway and ease ten
sion here, where every able-bodied
man in the partially evacuated city
labored atop a 60-foot seawan to hold
back the Ohio.
Flooding of the basin apparently
halted, at least temporarily, the threat
of intimidation to Cairo. The Ohio
remained virtually unchanged at 5S.67
since o'clock last night. The river
was expected to remain at about that
level until Thursday.
Then, with the Birds Point Basin
full, another rise is expected here.
| Workmen rushed construction Of .
3-foot bulkhead on the seawall, pre-
pairing for an expected 6l-foot crest,
81 feet above flood stage.
w. p. A. Bolsters Levee.
On the Missouri side, ], 500 w. p. A.
workers from Poplar Bluff and other
Southeast Missouri towns worked to-
day to bolster the setback levee. Charles
L. Blanton, jr., w. P. A. administrator
in the Missouri district, said the set
back will be raised feet along IA Of
its 27-mile stretch. 1t protects nu-
merouS Missouri communities.
OfficialS said most of the residents
of the Floodway Basin were tenant
farmers and share choppers. Many
succeeded in moving their live stock
and some household goods ahead OF
the inundation. but several abandoned
everything to the water as they sought
safety.
Two colored persons drowned and at
least 10 persons were missing after the
Mississippi rushed from its course with
current so strong 1t crushed houses
and farm buildings.
Three observation airplanes cruised
along the line OF the 60-foot setback
leyee at the rear Of the basin, re-
porting the predicament Of isolated
refugees.
New Madrid Evacuated.
Women and children hurried out Of
New Madrid after Army engineers and
the Red Cross ordered that community
and the entire southern section Of New
Madrid County evacuated. Merchants
raised their stock on scaffolding and
boarded their stores against q threat
ened invasion Of the Mississippi, pre-
dicted by the chief Army engineer at
Memphis, Tenn, to be OIL its way to o
record crest.
Most Of New Madrid's 2,309 resi-
dents were gone to nearby commune
ties long before daylight. The town is
at the southern extremity Of the Bird
Point Floodway and is protected by q
60-foot setback levee.
Within an hour after the noodway
was opened six feet Of water covered
most Of its 131 900 acres, and the river
| crept slowly toward the setback levee
at Charleston, haven Of 1890 refugees.
Another $500 were concentrated in
nearby highland areas.
Citizens Warned.
The basin residents had been in the
doodway since morning at their own
risk" Army engineers declared. The
engineers announced Sunday they
would dynamite the levee.
There were reports that farmer
planned armed resistance, but en-
gineers encountered no opposition.
The Birds Point-New Madrid Flood
way, completed in 1881, was built to
lessen flood threats at Cairo. This is
the first time it has been used.
Observers predict a new rise, slower
than the first, probably will come down
the Ohio about Thursday to bring q
crest between 60 and 81 feet at Cairo
by the end Of the week.
Shawneetown, the first Illinois COM
munity affected by the flood, was vir-
tually deserted today. Harrisburg, "a
miles from the river and relief head
quarters for Southern Illinois, was par
TALLY inundated.
The waters had not yet broken
over the main levee at Shawneetown
at last reports, but were expected to
pour over momentarily. Commune
cation with the area was dif1cult.
At Golconda, Rosiclare and Me-
tropolis, health authorities at SPRING
field were advised, refugees were safe
on high ground.
Sandbags were placed on the lcvees
at Mound City and here.