"Historic and tragic" Levee breach

River Drops After Levee Blast

Excerpts:

At around 10 p.m. local time Monday, a rapid-fire series of fireballs ripped across the darkened tree line, followed by the sound and chest-rumbling feel of powerful explosions from a vantage point around the corner of the same levee and about a half-mile across soggy farmlands.

A Corps official said the operation had been a success, while calling it both "historic and tragic."

...

By 7 a.m. local time Tuesday, the Ohio River at Cairo had dropped by more than a foot, to 60.57 feet from 61.72 feet just before the explosion. Engineers were still preparing to blow two additional holes at the southern end of the floodway—some 35 miles away—to let water flow back into the river, according to a 5 a.m. update on a Corps Facebook page.

Comment: Article is really interesting. Look for the term "sand boil". Another article mentioning "sand boil": Mayor Evacuates Flood-Threatened Illinois City. Picture from 1937 sand boil in Cairo. Picture from 2011 of sand boil. Article on sand boils