Governor pledges help to victims of flooding

Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Emergency management officials were on hand Tuesday afternoon to provide an update on efforts to ease flooding in Southeast Missouri. Gov. Jay Nixon, second from the right, visited with Major General Michael J. Walsh, right, commander of the Mississippi Valley Division and Maj. Gen. Stephen L. Danner, adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard, and other emergency officials. Jill Bock, staff

SIKESTON - "What Mother Nature has started, we will finish," said Gov. Jay Nixon as he heard from emergency management officials coordinating the fight against the region's high water.

Department of Public Safety Director Drew Juden detailed the local efforts to coordinate staging areas for those coming to assist, the location of sandbagging operations and the emergency shelters. On Monday, Juden said, some two dozen swift-water boats arrived which will be used should water rescues be needed.

The Commerce levee is a major concern for Sikeston because if it breeches, the water would come into Sikeston, he said. He said it is being monitored hourly.

"Public safety is our No. 1 concern," said Major General Michael J. Walsh, commander of the Mississippi Valley Division. "Folks are just beginning to realize the immensity of this flood."

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