Judge says New Madrid levee can be blown up

A federal judge on Friday ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can blow up a Mississippi River levee, which would flood Missouri farmland but prevent flooding an Illinois town. U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. ruled that the Corps had the right to breach the levee to prevent flooding in Cairo, Illinois, as permitted by a 1928 law. The levee breach would flood 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland, which contains about 90 homes. Missouri had filed suit to prevent the Corps from carrying out its plan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110429/us_nm/us_weather_floods_missouri;_ylt=AtnhxAULiyMiJbOaWtn.ZOlvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTJycHMyczAyBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwNDI5L3VzX3dlYXRoZXJfZmxvb2RzX21pc3NvdXJpBGNwb3MDMgRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNmZWRlcmFsanVkZ2U-