Private levee overtops in Malta Bend bottoms

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

By Marcia Gorrell/Democrat-News

Late on Friday July 8, a private levee in the Missouri River bottoms below Malta Bend began over topping. Volunteers had spent more than a week, working 24 hours a day to save it. Over 10,000 sandbags were put down to try to hold the water back, but in the end the river kept rising and it became to dangerous for workers. This is the first time since 1993, the 500 acres behind the levee have been totally flooded. Water now pushes against the Malta Bend levee.

Water rushes into two farmers' fields in the Malta Bend bottoms. There was about 500 acres of corn growing before the levee broke.
By Sunday, July 10 water was already several feet deep in the corn field. It is now completely covered.
On Sunday, July 10, inmates from Boonville and Tipton Correctional centers, along with local volunteers, helped make sandbags in Malta Bend.

An Army Corps of Engineers helicopter has been flying over levees in the area to check for sand boils and other problems. This one was flying over as water was pouring over a private levee and flooding this cornfield.