ST. LOUIS, May 3 (UPI) -- The Mississippi River inundated 130,000 acres of prime Missouri farmland Tuesday morning after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blew up a section of levee.

Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh said the river was already dropping at Cairo, Ill., after the opening of the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. It fell by more than a foot, to 60.62 feet, after holes were blown in the levee Monday night.


The National Weather Service predicted the river would crest at Cairo, where the Ohio joins the Mississippi, on Thursday at 63 feet. Officials hope the opening has cut 3 or 4 feet off that.

The floodway has not been used since 1937. Missouri officials tried to block the opening in court last week, but a federal judge ruled the corps had the authority to breach the levee.

Col. Vernie Reichling, corps commander for the Memphis district, who was in charge of the breach, called the opening "historic and tragic," the Southeast Missourian reported. Farmers say their homes and equipment will be a total loss, and Missouri officials called for federal aid.

Walsh said the corps is considering opening the Morganza floodway near Morgan City, La., which has not been used since 1973, and the Bonnet Carre, 30 miles upriver from New Orleans, which has been opened eight times, the Post-Dispatch said.

"Making this decision is not easy or hard," Walsh said. "It's simply grave -- because the decision leads to loss of property and livelihood, either in a floodway or in an area that was not designed to flood."