Governor J.B. Pritzker visited Meredosia this morning to survey flood mitigation efforts along the Illinois River. Pritzker, Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Brigadier General Alicia Tate-Nadeau, and Morgan County Emergency Management Coordinator Phil McCarty took questions from the press.
Pritzker said that he activated 60 active duty National Guard to Morgan, Scott, and Pike county to help with sandbagging efforts on Meredosia’s north levee to ensure that the levee would not be overtopped with flood stage reaching above 26 feet. Pritzker says that the National Guard along with help with the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Department of Corrections positioned over 150,000 sand bags on the levee since Thursday.
Pritzker praised the efforts of the National Guard, local emergency efforts, as well as the Triopia football team for their sandbagging efforts.
General Nadeau says that sandbagging efforts had to be modified to comply with COVID-19 CDC guidelines. She says that sandbags were dropped off at 3 IDOC locations and then trucked to the levees for positioning by National Guard troops. All National Guard troops were tested for COVID-19 prior to deployment to the levees along the river.
McCarty told the small pool of reporters that the north levee at Meredosia has currently been raised by 5 more feet to deal with anymore potential rainfall over the next two days.
This year marks the second year Pritzker has visited the Morgan County town for flooding efforts.