Sabotage Suspected in Bridge Levee Break : Investigation: A probe is opened after river washed over a road, closing West Quincy, Mo., span. Experts say it would be easy to cause a failure.

Authorities are investigating the possibility of sabotage in last Friday’s spectacular levee break at West Quincy, Mo., which led to the flooding of 15,000 acres and the closure of the only open bridge over the Mississippi River for 200 miles.

The churning waters also sent an errant river barge crashing into a large service station, overturning gasoline tanks and starting a fire that swept downriver.

No one was injured as a result of the break, though one person was rescued from the river by police. The fire was doused within 20 minutes.

The river washed over the approach road to the Quincy Bayview Bridge, which connects Missouri with Quincy, Ill., a town of 40,000. The resulting closure has sent hundreds driving for hours out of their way all week to get from one state to the other for work, to visit relatives or for medical care.

Commissioners of the Fabius River Levee and Drainage District asked Marion County Sheriff Dan Campbell on Thursday to open the inquiry.

Numerous levees in the area, mostly protecting farmland, have given way in recent weeks despite furious efforts by volunteers, the National Guard and prison work crews who battled both heavy rains and the swollen Mississippi River.

The Fabius River levee fell at 8:20 p.m. last Friday night. But, Campbell said, levee commissioners had inspected the failed portion of their 17-mile defense less than 90 minutes before the breach, and they believed it to be one of their strongest points.

Commissioners had looked at videos of the break, Campbell said, and “were convinced, at least in their minds, that it was suspicious. They’re the experts.”

“At this point in time, we don’t have a motive,” Campbell said, “whether this was sabotage to relieve another levee, or something else. At this point, it seems like a mindless act of vandalism.”

All a saboteur would have to do, he said, is remove a sandbag or two and leave the area.

“Normally, you couldn’t easily cause this,” Campbell said. “But now you’re looking at a water level that’s actually two or three feet above the top of the levee. It was the sandbags holding the water back.”

A local levee authority said: “What’s scary is how easy it is.”

There are several suspects, Campbell said, and the Quincy Police Department and Adams County Sheriff Department in Illinois are also working on the case. Asked if this meant that at least one suspect lives across the river, Campbell said, “Yes, it does.”

No one was in custody on Thursday, Campbell said.

With the river roaring, frothy with whitecaps, through a 100-yard hole that rapidly widened, physical evidence is scanty, Campbell said. “It’s going to be a tough case. Given enough time, though, I hope we can find out what happened.”

Rumors about the break have been sweeping through communities on both sides of the river.

“People will be lining up to choke the individual if it turns out that someone caused that on purpose,” said John Hark, the emergency management coordinator for Hannibal, Mo.

Access to the river bridge at Hannibal, the boyhood home of Mark Twain, had previously been submerged by floodwaters. The town had been depending on the Quincy bridge.

After the Quincy bridge was put out of commission, construction crews worked around the clock over the weekend to restore service to a bridge that connects Keokuk, Iowa, to Hamilton, Ill., about 35 miles to the north.