Madeline (Giles) DeJournett is the Advance writer for the North Stoddard Countian. A retired high school English/history teacher, she spent 32 years teaching in 5 schools in Missouri and Alaska. These days, she lives quietly with a menagerie of wild and domestic animals on 52 secluded acres in the remote Tillman hills south of Advance. She graduated from Dexter High School in 1960 and Southeast Missouri State in 1964. She can be contacted at advancensc@sbcglobal.net.

Another levee breaks

Posted Saturday, March 22, 2008, at 11:32 AM

A lone observer stands on the levee at the northermost edge of Crowley's Ridge, looking east over what used to be State Highway 0 to the tiny village of Painton. This photo was taken Saturday morning, March 22, 2008. The county road ends abruptly at the lower edge of the photo, having been completely washed out by the water. The area called "Old Field" is off to the left.

Those of us who live up on Crowley's Ridge may be feeling fortunate not to be directly affected by this week's flooding, but we don't have to go far to see some of the results. This morning I took a two-mile trip from my Tillman farm over to "Moroni's Hill," at the very northern edge of Crowley's Ridge about 5 miles east of Advance, where I had heard of another levee break.

It's easy to take our system of levees for granted, as we travel past them to work and back, and it's a real shock when one of them breaks. I stood in amazement, a chilly wind whipping my face, as I saw a water channel wiping out the highway which I had traveled to work for 20 years. Missouri State Highway 0 is yet another route to be closed by this week's remarkable deluge of water.

The Perkins' Fire Department evacuated residents of Painton Wednesday evening, March 19, when the levee broke, but the residents returned to their homes later that night, and the water appears to be receding at this point. Fortunately, the Painton levee break seems to be affecting farm land, rather than homes, so, as such, the repair priority may be rather low.

In the meantime, the sunshine is a welcome relief.

From the sunny hills of Tillman, Mo., this is your rural NSC reporter, Madeline, hoping for a warm, dry Easter Sunday!

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Gloomy picture, in more ways than one...

-- Posted by goat lady on Sat, Mar 22, 2008, at 2:35 PM
Maddie sure sounds like mess in your part of the world, here in Mich. we got a foot of snow on Good Friday and most activities were cancelled in the evening' I will take my snow over your water, today the sun is out and a little snow melted, so keep dry and see you in Church Easter morning.

-- Posted by rusty nail on Sat, Mar 22, 2008, at 5:49 PM

Madeline Dejournett's response:
Well, rusty, we DID have a big snow - right before the big ice storm, which tore up all the trees. Then came the flood, and we're wondering what's next! Some people expect locusts!
Madeline...

Great picture, somber as it is. Glad to hear you are safe and sound and glad you got your ordered sunshine on this Easter Sunday, even though the air is biting a bit. Stay dry!

-- Posted by Noreenmhyslop on Sun, Mar 23, 2008, at 10:56 AM
MD, Be sure and have the NSC submit your photo as an entry for "Best News Photo" or some similar category for the annual Missouri journalism awards.

-- Posted by FJGuy on Sun, Mar 23, 2008, at 3:14 PM
Wow...I am so blessed that this flood didn't really effect me or anyone close to me. I did have an old high school friend (and her husband and 7 children) who were driven from their home over in the Marble Hill area due to all this. But they're all ok, thank God. They did receive damage to their home, but that's nothing compared to their lives. And I knew someone else whose car was pushed off the road by flood waters into a ditch. She also came out ok. The question keeps coming up of what's going to come next...and as I've said in another comment elsewhere...I hope it's not the tornado season that's knocking on our doors. Those scare the fire out of me. My best friend lives in a mobile home, and everytime we have hard storms I worry about her and her family. Mother Nature must be making up for something this year...her wrath has been felt multiple times in our little neck of the woods.

-- Posted by mrsdolphin on Mon, Mar 24, 2008, at 6:22 PM
MD, locusts sound pretty tame given what we've all been through lately. I'm so tired of just one thing after another. They're forecasting more rain later this week.

-- Posted by Ducky on Tue, Mar 25, 2008, at 12:36 PM
Maybe we should all trade our SUV's in on canoes! Now there's an economical mode of transportation!

-- Posted by goat lady on Tue, Mar 25, 2008, at 8:44 PM
This isn't really a comment on the current subject, but I have a question for you. I drove from Bloomfield to Advance yesterday and observed the daffodils on the side of the road that spell out a word. Do you know what it says? Someone is to be commended for planting thousands of bulbs; it was beautiful along there.

-- Posted by gardengirl on Fri, Mar 28, 2008, at 10:37 AM
It's beautiful, isn't it? I think it says "Happy Easter."

-- Posted by goat lady on Fri, Mar 28, 2008, at 8:25 PM

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