By Chris Taylor
Benton, KY – During his second flood assessment tour through western Kentucky yesterday Governor Steve Beshear surveyed damage by plane and stopped in Paducah, Hickman, and the recently opened Regional Emergency Operations Center in Benton. Beshear was optimistic about the effort to stave off high waters along the Ohio River and thanked workers charged with responding to the flood.
"Everybody is apparently going to get helped some by the fact that the Corps blew the levees over on the Missouri side. It has favorably affected the level of water so far and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate the effort. Y'all are doing a great job and I know it's under tough circumstances," said Beshear. "And the thing is: we're going to be here for awhile before it goes down and then we got a whole lot of clean up."
Beshear says he supports the difficult' decision to breach the Birds Point levee, pointing out it not only saved Cairo, Illinois, but protected lives and property in the Commonwealth as well.