By Angela Hatton
Smithland, KY – The Paducah National Weather Service has raised the crest predictions for the Ohio River at Paducah and Smithland. The river will now crest at around 58 feet this Friday. Livingston County Emergency Management Director David Koon says Smithland below Highway 60 and parts of the interior city are under mandatory evacuations. Koon says the current levee can't be built up enough to stop the water.
"It won't physically support its own weight. When you start getting up it's already four or five feet tall and whenever you try to raise it another four or five foot, sandbags and the weight of the water'll will knock it right over."
Koon says the Red Cross in Paducah has opened a shelter for Livingston County residents at Margaret Hanks Memorial Church. He says residents should get out soon before water covers roads into McCracken County. In Paducah, workers are installing additional floodgates to protect the downtown.