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Cairo, Illinois Evacuated Ahead of Levee Breach

Mayor orders residents out as Ohio River swells.

Residents of the southern Illinois town of Cairo are being told to evacuate as river water is flooding the ground behind the town levee, "kind of like Old Faithful." Overnight thunderstorms dropped more rain on the soaked town, worrying emergency officials. Cairo Mayor Judson Childs issued the evacuation late Saturday afternoon, after meeting with an Army Corps of Engineers officer responsible for deciding whether or not to breach Missouri's Birds Point levee by blowing a hole in it to relieve pressure on levees along the overflowing Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The mayor urged remaining residents of Cairo to leave by midnight Saturday, as the area flooded with river-water seepage expanded. The National Weather Service reported that by 4 a.m., the Ohio River reached 59.59 feet in Cairo, the highest it's been since 1937. The river is expected to reach 60.5 feet, a foot higher than the 1937 record.