Mississippi communities threatened

The federal government's deliberate flooding of 130,000 acres of farmland in Missouri this week could cost taxpayers several hundred million dollars because of extensive, possibly permanent damage to farmland.

A wide swath of prime farmland in southeastern Missouri is likely to be ruined by fast-moving floodwaters, generating costs that go well beyond insurance coverage for lost crops, Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says. "The water is going to scour a channel and deposit dozens of feet in sand drifts," he says.

Carlin Bennett, presiding commissioner in Mississippi County in southeastern Missouri, says it would cost at least $300 million to pay farmers for land they can no longer farm and to repair or replace damaged homes, roads and public facilities. "A lot of the land — you'll never be able to restore it," Bennett says.

A group of farmers is suing the Army Corps of Engineers, which blasted holes in a levee to ease the swelling Mississippi River, for compensation.

The damage illustrates the limits of the Agriculture Department's crop-insurance program, which pays farmers only for losses from destroyed or damaged crops. "Crop insurance would not pay for this. It won't pay for damage to the ground," Hurst says.

Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, took a first step toward getting federal funds Thursday when he asked President Obama to declare 40 of Missouri's 114 counties disaster areas, which would make them eligible for emergency aid and loans from numerous federal agencies. Nixon's request covered the area inundated after the Army Corps of Engineers breached the levee Monday, as well as other counties that have been damaged over the past two weeks by high winds, tornadoes and flooding.

The Army Corps broke open a levee in Mississippi County to relieve pressure from the Mississippi River, which was threatening to overwhelm cities including Cairo, Ill. The Corps says its action helped ease the dangerously swollen river, although water levels remain alarmingly high.

Bennett says the levee breach created a fast-moving channel of water that caused more damage than if the river had flowed over the levee and formed a slow-moving pool. "It's going to tear away structures that could withstand a slow, steady rise of water," he says.

An Agriculture Department program that helps restore damaged and flooded land has only $30 million available. Congress usually funds the program through emergency legislation.

Homeowners who do not have flood insurance can get up to $30,200 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the loss of their home. About 100 homes in Mississippi County have been destroyed by the flood, and few are covered by flood insurance, Bennett says.

Contributing: Melanie Eversley