Missouri Legislature Discussed One Natural Disaster After Another

JEFFERSON CITY - The Missouri legislature reconvened after Easter weekend with opening statements about the two natural disasters that have and continue to devastate parts of Missouri.

The flooding is continuing to breach the levees in the Southeast part of the state, and according to the House Speaker Steve Tilley, some colleagues were unable to meet in the Capitol Tuesday because they were back home helping through the crisis.

"Obviously we have had some very troubling days through the tornadoes and the rising of the rivers, and of course then in Butler County the levee did break and so we have colleagues back home taking care of their constituents and now let's just reflect a moment of silence and personal prayer," Tilley said.

While victims deal with the issue of potentially more rain, another controversial issue of whether to blow up the levee to alleviate the upstream pressure on the Mississippi River continues, according to a House member from the area, Rep. Steve Hodges.

Tilley gave the floor to Hodges, D-East Prairie, who warned the Representatives of a similar situation in 1937 where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faced a dilemma similar to the current one.

"In 1937, the Corps of Engineers had to blow that river levee and it flooded everything in there and got into the town of East Prairie, where I live on the other side of town. What this will affect if this happens at the end of the week, is 126,000 to 130,000 acres of the best land in Missouri," Hodges said.

The Corps' is comprised of more than 30,000 civilians and soldiers who deal with engineering based issues in 90 countires.

However, Hodges and other legislative leaders oppose the break in the levee because it would ruin fertile farmland.

Gov. Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster openly stated their opposition to this action, but according to Hodges, the federal Army Corps of Engineers is following a protocol that be changed only by presidential action.

While the flooding continues to rise like an overfilled coffee mug, the Army Corps of Engineers are making plans to plant fuse plugs with explosives along the Mississippi, while the Attorney General is filing an injunction to prohibit blowing up the damns.

Hodges points out if this levee were to be blown and if the set back levee where to fail, there would be a massive flooding in, "New Madrid, Charleston, East Prairie and on down the way."

According to CNN, the chief spokesman in the Corps', James Pogue said, "This allows us to do what nature will do anyway, (but) in a controlled system."

Pogue also said the breaking of the levee in Birds Point is a "safety valve" to the flooding situation.

Hodges also spoke on a more personal note about his own neighbors being affected by the flood. "A man who is going to be 70 tomorrow, he has built his home 35 years ago, and he said, 'Steve, this is it. I'm not coming back.' Beautiful home, moved all his belongings out." Hodges also said other people are dealing with the same situation.

The final decision about the levee break will be made Wednesday.

While in the Senate, Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis County, spoke about another natural disaster that swept over Missouri the past weekend.

Chapelle-Nadal gave multiple recounts of families hit by the tornadoes, and the severity of them in her own county.

"If they would have not gotten into their basement, they would have been gone," said Chappelle-Nadal about one family hit by the F-4 tornadoes in Bridgeton and St. Ann, Missouri.

Chappelle-Nadal not only recapped about the devastation but also thanked citizens who contributed to helping, "It was an enormous effort on behalf of so many people to make a difference and try to put the lives back together of the people who were victimized this weekend."