Illinois River Flooding May Peril Business Area

Despite the Memorial Day holiday, soldiers, inmates and volunteers were back at work Monday to reinforce levees along swollen rivers and help flood victims in Illinois and Missouri.

No more rain was expected in much of the region at least until Wednesday.

Additional state prison inmates and sandbags were sent in Monday to help workers battling the Illinois River at Meredosia, Ill., a town of about 1,100 people in Morgan County.

If the rising water isn’t contained by the time the river crests later this week, it could cut off access to a bridge over the river and spill into the town’s business district, said Chris Tamminga, a spokeswoman with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

About 200 people piled sandbags Monday to build a second levee, 200 feet long and 7 feet high, in case the main rock-and-sand barrier fails to keep the river back.

“They’re not looking for a crest until the first [Thursday], so we’ve got to hold this thing,” said Gene Field, a regional coordinator for the emergency agency. “It’s got to continue.”

No homes were threatened yet, but some residents relocated voluntarily, Field said.

Authorities also were concerned about three levees in nearby Scott County, a farming area of about 6,000 people, Tamminga said. One protects the central Illinois expressway, which connects Springfield with western Illinois.

The Illinois National Guard, sent into the area on Friday, returned to sandbagging duty Monday after camping overnight at Winchester High School.

The Illinois River was expected to crest in some areas at higher levels than in the summer flood of 1993 and near the record levels of 1943, the National Weather Service said.

National Guard troops also were on duty in Missouri, supplying ferry service for residents of Portage des Sioux, a tiny town about 20 miles north of St. Louis.