Cairo residents prepare for flood

[April 27, 2011]  CAIRO -- Percy Jones hasn't seen a customer inside his Mary J's Lounge in Cairo for a while now. And, he's not sure when his customers may return.

His business is about a block from the swelling Ohio River. He said the flood is coming, so he's going to have to have to pack up and get out before the waters rise. But he doesn't know where he's going.

"Maybe Carbondale," Jones said Tuesday evening as he packed up his business.

Jones is one of the nearly 3,000 people in Illinois' southernmost city who have been asked to evacuate their homes and businesses and move to higher ground.

"Right now it's just a voluntary evacuation," Jones said. "I am getting some stuff out of here now. I don't have anyplace I can take anything."

But Jones doesn't want to just leave it for the flood. And the water is coming -- he knows that for sure.

"More storm and rain is headed this way," he said. "I can't see it getting any better."

Jones figures it may take him a day or so to pack up. In that time Illinois is expected to send help to Cairo.

Gov. Pat Quinn issued a disaster proclamation on Monday after heavy thunderstorms pounded the state in the past two weeks. On Tuesday, the governor ordered the National Guard to southern Illinois.

Quinn is sending 20 National Guardsmen to assist southern Illinois towns along the rising Ohio and Mississippi rivers. If conditions get worse, the governor may deploy up to 105 more guardsmen.

But it's not just people. The state has sent what it calculates will be enough material to prevent widespread damage.

Illinois already directed 210,000 sandbags and 89 rolls of plastic to the river region to help create a flood barrier. Illinois Department of Corrections inmate crews also were sent.

"We've made longtime preparations for this," Quinn said. "We've had sandbags sent in for many months now, and we want to really be ready in case of an emergency."

City officials in Brookport also asked residents to voluntarily evacuate, said Patti Thompson, spokeswoman for Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

"We have a lot of areas right now that we are watching closely," Thompson said. "And (authorities are) working with the local officials to help them with any needs that they might have to protect their citizens and their critical infrastructure."

It is going to be at least a few days before Illinois sees the worst of the flooding from the Ohio River. The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., predicted the river will crest at 60.5 feet Saturday. That would be almost a foot higher than 1937's record flood on the Ohio.

Even with the new resources to fight the flood, Jones said the state can only do so much.

"Something like this is unpredictable," Jones said. "Man only can do so much. So it is up to God on what really happens."

[Illinois Statehouse News; By DIANE S.W. LEE]