Trackhoe operator Jimmy Smith on Saturday builds a rock dam to prevent erosion from damaging the Dyer County Little Levee. Rain had scoured and the soil had begun to cave off into the water.

The projected high-water point of the Mississippi River at Caruthersville on Saturday was dropped by a half-foot, to an even 40 feet, but was forecast to arrive on Friday instead of Tuesday.

Thirty-two feet is flood stage.

"As long as it stays on the other side of the Dyer County Little Levee," said farmer and local levee district member Jimmy Moody. "We should be OK. There's no reason to panic."

Trackhoe operator Jimmy Smith works to build a six-foot levee not far from the bank of the Obion River on Abbott Road south of Highway 104 to protect farmland.

Preventive measures have been under way since last week, with farmers in the county's western third shoring up defenses against the creeping Mississippi, Forked Deer and Obion river backwater.

Several roads were made off-limits as the rising water blocked travel.

On Saturday, the levee district began placing rocks to prevent further erosion of a pond stream on the east side of the levee about a half-mile north of Boothspoint Road.

A barge in the Mississippi River passes west of Boothspoint Road on Saturday. The road to the Bunge grain elevator was closed Friday after rising water covered the road north and south of the plant.

"There was some caving in of the soil," said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District flood activity coordinator Jack Ratliff. "So the local folks took the proactive step to go ahead and do it now. They have a vested interest."

Moody praised the Corps for lending the technical assistance to the district.

"They've been great," said Moody. "They're not afraid to get their boots wet and their hands dirty."

The district also identified potential problems on the levee. About two miles south of Tennemo a crack was found on the east side of the levee. Flags were placed to mark the site for repair.

Moody said the work under way is helpful to guard against events later in the week that could affect the levee district.

"All that rain and water they got up in Cape Girardeau, Mo. and farther north has to go somewhere, and it's all got to pass Heloise, Tennessee."