NWS: Levee breaks, threatening eastern Mo. homes
ST. LOUIS (AP) - June 27, 2008 The National Weather Service said in a flash flood warning
issued at 5:55 a.m. that it was unknown how fast the water was
moving. It was also uncertain about the condition of the rest of
the Pin Oak Levee at Winfield, about 45 miles northwest of St.
Louis.
The surrounding rural area is also expected to flood.
Andy Binder, spokesman for Lincoln County emergency management
operations, had said Thursday that the Pin Oak levee was holding
but showing signs of strain. It was protecting about 100 homes in
Winfield, numerous businesses and thousands of farm acres.
Officials called for a two-day break in filling sandbags on
Thursday and Friday, and planned to refresh their sand supply and
resume bagging Saturday. They said at the time they had sandbags
available to fix problem spots as needed.
For days, flood fighters at Winfield have been concerned about
trouble spots on the northeast side of the levee, where they
hurriedly patched mudslides with sandbags. However, the breach
occurred on the south section of the levee.
White water poured through a hole that appeared to be about 30
feet long.
Officials said about three-quarters of the 100 homes had already
been evacuated. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it received a
report from the agency's flood-fighting personnel at 5:20 a.m.
Friday that the levee was breaking. Sirens blared shortly before 6
a.m.
Sheriff's deputies went door-to-door yelling, "The levee broke.
Get out."
Winfield resident Debbie Halcomb, 52, reached by telephone early
Friday, said she hadn't yet evacuated her home. She and others were
packing up a television, bedding and other items, like paper
towels, she said.
She had been sleeping in a bed up on milk crates when she awoke
to the sound of sirens.
"On my God, I was hoping it would hold, but it didn't," she
said. "I think we probably lost it on this last bunch of rain,"
she said.
Halcomb had regularly been driving over to the levee to peer at
it through binoculars, and credited emergency responders for days
of work to try to save the earthen structure, saying they'd done a
fantastic job.
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Associated Press Writer Betsy Taylor in St. Louis contributed to
this report.