WINFIELD, Mo. — The Mississippi is showing its might in Lincoln County, forcing creeks that normally drain to the river back toward this small town of about 1,700 with a history of trying to fight the river.
Already, the Mississippi has overtopped one levee and flooded 20 to 30 homes.
Sunday, as boats navigated by street signs, a small group of volunteers worked to reinforce weak spots in the town's secondary levee.
“This is kind of our last line of defense,” said Arron Lee, the Assistant Fire Chief for the Winfield Foley Fire Protection District.
The fire district even brought in a diver to close off problem areas underwater.
“We’re constantly in prayer that the levee will hold and these people’s homes will stay dry,” said Winfield mayor Ryan Ruckel.
Dora and Charles Peters need the levee to hold to save their home and the homes of about two dozen of their neighbors.
“I have no place to go,” said Dora. “If it gets in my trailer I’m really sunk,” she said. “We have no family around here.”
The river crest isn't expected to be as bad as first predicted, but the longer the water sits on this levee, the chances that something could go wrong keep going up.
“We’re going to be paying close attention to this for the next month and a half,” said Lee with the fire district.
With rain in the forecast for the coming week, people here are worried about the pressure on levee.
They’re also worried about getting more volunteers once the work week starts. They need help sandbagging the levee and plan to start at 8 a.m. Monday at the first station across from the high school on Highway 47.