LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Tenn. — There may not be any 4th of July celebrating for Lauderdale County farmers.
Many of them have been working round-the-clock to keep flood waters off their crops.
But the threat wasn’t just from the mighty Mississippi, it also came from area rivers which had nowhere to drain off.
“We’ve got what, fifty percent chance of rain for the next three, four or five days? And we don’t need any of that,” said Lauderdale County Farmer Cleve Crook.
Crook said he was in the fight of his life, trying to keep three thousand acres of soybeans from drowning.
“And, as late in the year as it is, if we don’t save what we’ve got it’s a total loss. And there won’t be anything planted back here. It’s terrible,” he said.
Crook said the last time a major flood happened during this time of the year was back in 1993.
He had a crew working round-the-clock to build earthen levees on his land and said “Mother Nature” has hit this area hard from three directions.
“It’s from all the rain up in the Ohio River Valley has flooded the Mississippi. And the Mississippi “backs up” though its tributaries like the Obion and the Forked Deer. And all that is coming down on us now,” said Crook.
Almost everywhere you looked in West Lauderdale County, along Highway 88, farmers have pumps running or have hired trackhoe operators to stop the rising water.
One of them was Robbie Brigman, who had been at the controls of his giant machine for more than week.
Brigman and his son built and re-built levees but just couldn’t seem to stay a step-ahead of the water.
“The water just keeps creeping up and your levee just keeps getting shorter and shorter. then you have to go back and keep adding and adding,” said Brigman.
Brigman said everyone’s putting in some long hours to save their farm land and hoped their efforts will pay off.
“Fighting it real hard. Ten o’clock at night, ain’t nothin’ unusual for us to quit about nine or ten o’clock,” said Brigman.
The Mississippi River is expected to crest along Lauderdale County on July 8, but that doesn’t mean worries are over for farmers.
It could take weeks for the river to drop to its normal level and by then it could be too late.
