Levee repairs on the Black River in southern Butler County held less than 48 hours before failing Monday morning.
The breach is expected to once again flood between 5,000 and 10,000 acres of home and farmland as the damaged area continues to erode, said Drainage District 7 board member Andy Clark, who spent Monday afternoon warning about 15 families who live in the area.
The district does not know what it will do next and also learned Monday morning it may not receive any federal money to help with repairs.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will not pay for repairs to levees that fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to information presented at a public assistance briefing for region officials.
This could include the five to seven miles of levees within District 7, Clark believes. The area is about 10 miles north of the Arkansas state border.
"We heard this morning FEMA wouldn't pay for it because of the Corps of Engineers, and the Corps won't pay for it because they say they don't have any money," Clark said Monday afternoon. "You just keep hitting a dead-end road, and you don't know which way to go."
The district paid about $30,000 for the temporary repair. Contractors took about 5,500 cubic yards of dirt from a neighboring farm field and attempted to make temporary repairs over 2 1/2 days. The levee was so saturated, it was difficult to pack the dirt down, Clark said.
The Black River has remained too high to do work since severe weather first caused flooding problems at the end of April.
The district had to request a deviation in the water control plan for Clearwater Dam to get the river low enough to do work.
The deviation, which temporarily reduced the outflow from the dam, ended Thursday, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
It takes about 72 hours for water from the dam to reach that section of river.
Water began rising Sunday, and the temporary levee had washed out by 6:30 a.m. Monday, Clark said.
Boards members say they were told Monday no further deviations will be issued until the lake level can be lowered.
The Corps has said it could be well into July before the lake is close to summer pool.
"We're between a rock and a hard spot," Clark said.
This area of southern Butler County has been underwater since late April, affecting thousands of acres of farmland. Farmers now believe they won't be able to get crops in before the end of this planting season.
Clark has about 1,400 acres of farmland he expects to flood again because of the breach.
About 1,200 was planted in rice when flooding began. It was lost. This newest round of high water will mean soybeans can't be planted, Clark said.
Resident John Crites also is affected by the flooding, along with at least a dozen other homes on county roads near the breach.
"We're losing yield every day," said Crites, who also does not believe his land will be dry enough to get crops out this year.
Residents who live in the area have to drive through floodwaters to get in and out, Crites added. While vehicles can pass through the water, the road is beginning to wash out in areas, he said.
The Poplar Bluff post office stopped delivering mail to the homes when flooding began, he said.
After initially telling residents they could only pick their mail up every three days from the Poplar Bluff facility, arrangements were made to leave the mail at the Qulin office, Crites said.
Residents can now pick their mail up every day, but it was difficult to get the postal service to make other arrangements, he said.
The drainage board receives about $125,000 in property taxes annually from landowners who live within the district. The majority of that money is spent on annual maintenance to mow and do smaller repairs to the levees, Clark said.
The district has been told it could take as much as $500,000 to make permanent repairs to the damaged section of levee.
This area has washed out four times in the last four years, said Clark, who has been on the board for approximately 25 years. The last five years have been the worst for this levee, he said.
This could be because of log jams and other debris blocking the flow of the river south of Drainage District 7.
County officials have said blockages in the river are preventing water from flowing as it should, exacerbating flooding problems in southern Butler County, including along Highway 53.
The Corps has said it will not fund clean up of the river.