The Army Corps of Engineers has supplied East Prairie with five, 18-inch water pumps to help alleviate rising waters that are threatening the town. They are pumping 10,000 gallons per minute of backwater that has collected in the Saint John’s basin. East Prairie Mayor Kevin Mainord says they’re still hopeful the waters will drop and they can open the flood gates in New Madrid to relieve water pressure on them this weekend.
The River at New Madrid is now at 47-feet and is expected to fall to 44 Saturday afternoon. Mainord says the backwater levels have remained constant near the city even with more rain falling last Saturday morning. He says a permanent fix is to install large, 43-inch water pumps but the cost would be near $2 million.
KZIM contributed to this report.