DORENA, Mo. — When the U.S. Army Corps Engineers blew the Birds Point levee along the Mississippi River on May 2, the waters washed away as many as 100 homes and 133,000 acres of fertile farmland. It also flooded a small Southern Baptist church. “The church is gone,” said LeRoy Davenport, pastor of Dorena Baptist Church. “I’ve seen aerial pictures, and it’s gone.”
The church building is still there, but at one point the muddy waters were up to the edge of the roof. The day after Mother’s Day, when the National Guard allowed property owners to inspect their homes via boats, a man reported to Davenport that he stood in the window ledge and could see pews floating inside. The church had been around since 1946 and had never had floodwater in it, though it came close a few times. When the floodway was activated, it was done so in part to save the town of Cairo, Ill., which experienced a record crest along the Mississippi River and a swollen Ohio River. With rain continuing and water levels at historic levels, the Corps said there was “no way to stop all flooding, but rather to do our best to reduce the risk to life and property in the region.”
In addition to Dorena Baptist, two other Missouri Baptist churches flooded in the recent surge of the Mississippi River. Shining Light Baptist Church, Charleston, and Hooe Baptist Church, Oran, were impacted.
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