8A
FROM PAGE ONE
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Breach From Page 1A seeing a bobcat that was trapped on a rooftop. He would return several days to toss it meat from a local butcher’s shop. “He was just trying to survive,” Sutton said. “I can relate.” Sutton didn’t even know if he would be able to get a crop in. He tried not to worry. He knows the Bible says not to worry about tomorrow, that God will provide. But he couldn’t help it. He tried to put a brave face on as often as he could so his worry didn’t infect his wife or three children. Insurance worked for those who had it. Most of the residents have moved out. Now only farmers and their workers remain. That’s all that will be left of the community that used to have thousands of residents years ago. Now, only a handful remain. Cars used to zip by all day as Sutton farmed. Now, he sees only one or two. He occasionally sees black smoke in the distance as another house burns. But he acknowledges now he actually came through with a decent crop. He didn’t make much money, but the losses weren’t as severe as they could have been. “Through all of it, I feel like I was still very blessed,” Sutton said. “I was able to pay the banker back, and I lived through it. The floodway will never be the same. But we survived.” Not everything did. Pinhook, a largely AfricanAmerican village in the floodway, has seen its more than 250 residents scatter. The floodwaters ravaged their homes. The 35 who lived there at the time of the flood now live in places like Sikeston, Wyatt, Charleston and East Prairie, Mo. Debra Tarver, who was the town mayor, says the close-knit community still tries to get together once a month. They still hope that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will relocate the community as a whole, but some
LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com
LEFT: Mississippi County Sheriff Keith Moore walks toward landowners as they return to Highway 102 on May 9, 2011, after checking on their property in the floodway in Mississippi County. RIGHT: The same spot on Highway 102 as seen April 11. officials have suggested it seems unlikely. Two homes have burned. One resident has died since. Even the Union Baptist Church, sacred to the people of Pinhook, has succumbed to fire since the flooding, Tarver said. But Tarver refuses to be bitter. Tonight, Tarver said, the residents are gathering for a dinner to try to plan for Pinhook Day. They want to still have the annual event that drew people back to their hometown from as far away as New York City. They’re also planning a memorial walk and fundraiser later this month, she said. “It may have broken us apart,” she said. “But it didn’t take away our drive to get back together. It did not break our spirit at all. They haven’t broken that at all.”
Like many of the homes in Pinhook, water got into Tarver’s home several feet high. It ruined walls, carpets and possessions. It was unliveable. Some of the people of Pinhook had insurance and others didn’t, she said. Tarver likes to remember Pinhook at its best, she said, a community of “brothers and sisters” who looked after each other. Friends and neighbors scattered across side roads and down different turns, she said. “Nothing about us has changed other than our homes being torn up,” she said. “If someone needs help, we know about it. It’s one big family, and I don’t think that family will ever die. Just because that happened to us doesn’t mean we’re going to lay down and play dead. We’re Pinhook and will always be Pinhook.”
But the flood was felt in many other communities outside of the floodway, too. Those people suffered losses at about this time last year, too. Milton Pecord, 91, of Olive Branch, Ill., watched as the people in his community fought to keep waters out of their homes. But after two levees broke, it basically became a lost cause. Pecord had lived in his house for nearly 40 years when the flood crept into it last year. It ruined insulation, walls, windows and floors. Pecord is no stranger to floods. “But this one was the worst flood we’ve ever had around here,” he said. Pecord considered participating in the buyout, but instead took FEMA’s offer of $45,600 to make repairs. He went to live with his daughter on higher ground
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while the work was being done. But Pecord has no complaints about the way the government reacted. The money was in the bank before he even knew it was there, he said. “I hated to be out of my home for eight months,” Pecord said. “But I’ve taken out $30,000 worth of flood insurance with the intention of staying. My plan right now is to stay here until I die.” Several other residents of Olive Branch are still hopeful of participating in a federal buyout. Patti Thompson with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday that the application is still under review. The state had questions about the application, asking for corrections to addresses and updates to exclude applicants who had died. The homeowners have
sent the information back to FEMA, which is still reviewing the application, she said. She did not know how much longer the review would last. A year later, the flood-affected residents said the future is still uncertain. Sutton worries that the corps will activate the floodway again in the future. The repairs are being made and the access wells are being installed so that it could be used again if need be. Tarver prays that her splintered community can be made whole again. Worry abounds. But Sutton still thinks about that bobcat from time to time. He even has photos of it. “I’d like to think he made it and is still out there somewhere,” Sutton said. smoyers@semissourian.com 388-3642
LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com
Workers smooth the land west of the intentional breach of the Birds Point levee April 11 in Mississippi County.
Blunt From Page 1A year, spokesman Bob Anderson said. He said a contract for the full rebuild is out for bid. “We’ve got the funding,” Anderson said. “It’s just a matter of getting everything lined up with contractors.” The corps is also rebuilding other damaged levees in Southeast Missouri, southwest Illinois and western Kentucky, he said. The intentional breach May 2, 2011, flooded 130,000 acres of farmland and displaced 50 families. “One year after the Birds Point levee breach, it is simply unacceptable that full restoration still remains months away,” Blunt said. “Flood protection for people and property should always be the primary goal in river policy. Our communities cannot return to normal until we fully restore what was lost and rebuild stronger.” The Birds Point levee protects a floodway designed to be opened in instances of extreme flooding. Last year’s flood set records in many locations south of St. Louis. The corps detonated explosives that tore holes in the levee, allowing river water to pour over 130,000 acres of farmland. Corps officials
have defended the move as necessary given the magnitude of last spring’s flooding. Water threatened to top the floodwall in Cairo, Ill. The corps has said that breaching the levee prevented more than $112 billion in damage throughout the land surrounding the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the southern U.S. But Blunt is not alone in his criticism. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, has urged that the levee be restored to its original height as quickly as possible. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, a Cape Girardeau Republican, said she believes the corps “jumped the gun” in deciding to activate the floodway, basing its decision on incorrect hydrology. Anderson said there were areas south of Birds Point in direct danger unless something was done to lower the pool of water. The corps has spent $25 million on the temporary levee now in place. While that offers protection against most floods, Anderson said, more significant flood events, such as those in 1973 and 2011, would top that level. Fortunately, river levels are unusually low this spring. The river level at Cairo is nearly 40 feet lower than it was a year ago. “It’s amazing what one year can bring,” Anderson said.
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