As for equipment and homes left behind, she said, "That's all down the rat hole."

Emerson joined Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Monday in urging federal officials to restore the floodway "in full, without delay or red tape and without uncertainty or further hardship upon those who will inevitably suffer in the Missouri Bootheel."

Walsh — the man ultimately responsible for the decision to go through with the plan — has indicated that he may not stop with the Missouri levee. In recent days, Walsh has said he might also make use of other downstream "floodways" — basins surrounded by levees that can intentionally be blown open to divert floodwaters.

Among those that could be tapped are the 58-year-old Morganza floodway near Morgan City, La., and the Bonnet Carre floodway about 30 miles north of New Orleans. The Morganza has been pressed into service just once, in 1973. The Bonnet Carre, which was christened in 1932 has been opened up nine times since 1937, the most recent in 2008.

"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."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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