CAIRO, Ill. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday refused to halt a plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to blast open a levee to relieve the rain-swollen Mississippi River even as the Illinois town at risk of flooding was cleared out.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito did not comment in denying Missouri’s request to block the corps’ plan. Alito handles emergency requests from Missouri and other states in the 8th Circuit in the Midwest.
Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, the corps officer in charge of deciding whether to breach the levee, said the decision has not been made yet. Destroying the levee would provide a relief valve to ease the menacing rivers and ultimately lower them, taking pressure off Cairo’s floodwall and other levees farther south along the Mississippi.
But the plan possibly would inundate 130,000 acres of now- evacuated farmland in Missouri’s agriculture-reliant Mississippi County, causing what Missouri argues would crush that region’s economy and environment.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster took the case to the Supreme Court. His office did not immediately return a call seeking comment after the court’s ruling.
As Missouri asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the corps’ plan, struggling Cairo near the confluence of Ohio and Mississippi rivers resembled a ghost town. Illinois National Guard troops went door to door with law enforcers to carry out the mayor’s “mandatory” evacuation order the previous night.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster for parts of Tennessee because of the killer tornadoes and flooding. At least 34 people were killed in Tennessee in tornadoes last week. A total of 342 have died in seven states. Alabama was the hardest hit with 250 deaths.
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured hard-hit neighborhoods of Alabama and Mississippi to offer condolences and pledge support for local residents and emergency workers.
