Mo. sues Corps to stop intentional levee break

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri officials are suing to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from destroying a levee protecting farmland in the southeast corner of the state.

Attorney General Chris Koster says he and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday asking a judge to stop the corps from intentionally breaching the levee at Birds Point.

The corps believes breaking the levee will take a significant amount of water out of the river and relieve upstream pressure on the levee protecting the Illinois town of Cairo (KAY'-roh).

The corps is expected to decide Tuesday whether to use explosives to blow holes in the levee.

Koster says the levee's destruction would cause flooding of up to 130,000 acres of land. Gov. Jay Nixon also is opposed to the plan.