June 28, 2008 --"We thought it was gonna hold last night," said 80-year-old Hazel Jack, left, after she took in the scene Saturday with Michele Hall, right, at Walnut and East Main Streets in Winfield.

(Christian Gooden/P-D)

UPDATED 11:30 A.M.

As the swelling Mississippi waters continue southward and are expected to crest in St. Louis on Monday, the United Way reports this morning that all sandbagging efforts in the  region have stopped -- at least for now.

On Saturday, floodwaters broke through the last 1,600-foot barrier protecting Winfield in Lincoln County, destroying more than 90 homes and damaging at least 70 more, officials said. Other homes still are not accessible, so more damage reports are likely.

Meanwhile, St. Charles County officials and residents have shored up sandbags in Portage des Sioux and West Alton. Levees there and in the Metro East area -- including Old Monroe -- appear to be holding.

To find updated volunteer requests, United Way officials say those in Missouri can call 2-1-1 and those with with cell phones or out of Missouri can call 800-427-4626 to find updated information.

OUR PREVIOUS STORY





WINFIELD — Slowly but steadily, the Mississippi River on Saturday began filling up Winfield. The sense of loss was evident throughout this all-but-abandoned town, which a day earlier was the scene of a furious effort to save it with a makeshift barrier.

But at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, a corner of that 1,600-foot barrier collapsed, and the Mississippi began flowing into Winfield, a town of 720 about 45 miles north of St. Louis. About 300 National Guard soldiers had spent about 20 hours erecting the barrier, made of steel and mesh and filled with sand. It was intended to do what the Pin Oak levee to the southeast also could not do. Guardsmen had spent more than week shoring up the Pin Oak. It failed Friday morning.

"We fought the good fight to save these people's homes," Sgt. Marvin Peacock, 46, of Ballwin, said Saturday. "It just wasn't our time."

The flooding Saturday destroyed more than 90 homes and damaged at least 70 more, officials said. More homes are inaccessible, so the extent of the damage is undetermined.

Upriver, though, the Mississippi was receding. In Clarksville, sandbagging was protecting its historic downtown.

Downstream, the Corps of Engineers predicts that the river will be more controllable. It is expected to crest Sunday afternoon at St. Louis.

In central Missouri, the Missouri River is rising because of heavy rain Thursday and Friday. Moderate flooding is predicted in parts of mid-Missouri by Monday.

In Winfield, several blocks of the east side of town were submerged Saturday. The tops of cars, street signs and playground equipment poked through the surface, while homes stood empty and dark.

The floodwater turned hundreds of acres of cornfields between Winfield and the Pin Oak levee into a huge placid lake at least 5 feet deep in places.

"It blows me away," said Bruce Owens, 48, as he steered his small fishing boat to get a closer look at his submerged home just off Highway 79 in Winfield.

GUARD'S EFFORT

The guardsmen who had worked through the night napped in cots Saturday afternoon inside a dimly lighted sports complex on the outskirts of town, awaiting orders and hoping to head home soon.

"I'm beat," said Pfc. Doug Spatz, 35, of Springfield, Ill. "When I get home, I'll be sleeping for at least 24 hours straight."

Some residents wandered through Winfield to see the flooding. Some were saddened to see their homes damaged but grateful for the soldiers' efforts.

"They gave it their best shot and it didn't work," said Bob Foust, 57, who abandoned his home with his family Friday night as the barrier was being built nearby. "We'll go back and look at the damage, start cleaning and start all over again."

Not all of Winfield's homes were flooded. Many residences sit on a hill above the river and out of the flood plain.

The Army Corps of Engineers said Saturday that river levels are expected to go down in Winfield over the next several days.

South of Winfield, the next major levee is the Consolidated North County Levee, which runs roughly from Portage des Sioux to West Alton.

Corps officials are confident it will hold. The area also is going to get some relief from the Illinois River, which is absorbing backflow from the Mississippi.

"Things are looking pretty good," said Alan Dooley, a spokesman for the corps. "But this is barring any more rain."

The corps downgraded its predicted crest for St. Louis by a tenth of a foot — to 38.6 feet Sunday afternoon. The record is 49.58 feet, set on Aug. 1, 1993.

Farther south, the corps is working to patch four minor sand boils along the levees in the bottoms in rural Columbia, Ill. The leaks are similar to some that occurred last weekend in the Modoc and Prairie du Rocher area. The corps said the public should not be alarmed and that the levees are holding strong.

Officials in other Illinois communities reported no other problems with flooding or levees. The water continues to rise in Alton, police said.

In St. Charles County, volunteers trucked leftover sandbags from the Portage des Sioux water plant to West Alton to fortify the levee Saturday after crest predictions there rose slightly, officials said.

Four miles north of Winfield, the mayor of Foley asked all motorists, except residents, to stay away from the town to prevent damage caused by wake from vehicles.

ASSESSMENT BEGINS

Clarksville, Mo., Mayor Jo Anne Smiley said Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have arrived to begin assessing damage.

About 35 homes and 20 businesses were flooded, Smiley said, but the main levels of most homes and businesses were protected, thanks to hundreds of volunteers, National Guard soldiers and prison inmates who began building several makeshift floodwalls and piling more than a million sandbags there two weeks ago.

"It's been a mammoth undertaking," Smiley said. "But I think we're gonna make it. The next challenge, of course, will be cleanup, and that's going to take a while."

Georgina Gustin and Jerri Stroud of the Post-Dispatch, and The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

jcurrier@post-dispatch.com | 636-255-7210