Destroying the Birds Point Levee caused a disaster

A Web site explains how the U.S. Corps of Engineers created a disaster for people in the East Prairie, Mo., area during the spring Mississippi flooding by destroying the Birds Point Levee. The Web site includes a 10-minute documentary video that explains the destruction and human disaster.

The documentary tells the story of the unusual disaster “through the eyes of its victims,” notes the video producers. It was a controversial decision by the Corps to deliberately destroy the levee with explosives to try and save a down-river town at the expense of a smaller community and the loss of more than 100,000 acres of productive farmland.

The Web site and the documentary are a call for action to demand the U.S. government assist those who lost homes, farmland and whose land will forever be forfeited to the Mississippi River. The Corps of Engineers is planning to rebuild the Birds Point Levee, but 11 feet lower than the one exploded, which means major flooding in normal spring high water times of the Mississippi River.

Action is needed to help in “the rebuilding efforts and draw a line in the mud so that another man-made situation like this can be avoided for other farm families across the country,” the organizers contend. The effort is being assisted by the St. Louis-based communications agency of Osborn & Barr.

Go to the Web site and view the video by clicking: www.disasteratbirdspoint.com  

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