Army Corps Blasts Levee To Save One Town, Flood Another

A few momentary blasts, flashes of orange light, and the Mississippi River began pouring through a wide hole in a Missouri levee, intentionally blown open by the Army Corps of Engineers in the hope of saving Cairo, Ill.

The Army Corps exploded the Birds Point levee after nightfall Monday, sacrificing 130,000 acres of rich farmland and about 100 homes in East Prairie, Mo. to spare the Illinois town of 2,800 residents that is at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. We speak with Toni Russell and Milus Gary Wallace, who live in East Prairie.