Mo. asks court to block levee blast, farm flooding

Major Gen. Michael Walsh gestures while being briefed by US Army Corps of Engineers personnel during a stop in Cairo, Ill., Saturday, April 30, 2011. Walsh said that the levee system has not been under the pressure that is currently on the system since being built in 1928.

The Paducah Sun, Stephen Lance Dennee, Associated Press

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Army Major Gen. Michael Walsh, left, talks with Cairo, Il. Mayor Judson Childs, center, during a stop in Cairo, Ill., Saturday, April 30, 2011. Walsh said that the levee system has not been under the pressure that is currently on the system since being built in 1928.

The Paducah Sun, Stephen Lance Dennee, Associated Press

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Cairo, Ill. Mayor Judson Childs addresses the media about concerns in Cairo, Saturday, April 30, 2011. He later announced a mandatory evacuation to city residents.

The Paducah Sun, Stephen Lance Dennee, Associated Press

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A sink hole from the Ohio River is seen on Commerce Avenue in Cairo, Ill., Saturday, April 30, 2011. Mayor Judson Childs has issued a mandatory evacutation to residents.

The Paducah Sun, Stephen Lance Dennee, Associated Press

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CAIRO, Ill. — Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block federal officials from destroying a Mississippi River levee as they try to prevent flooding in a small Illinois city.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Koster's bid Saturday to stop the Army Corps of Engineers from blowing a two-mile hole into the Birds Point levee in southeast Missouri.

Koster says he appealed to the Supreme Court on Sunday because he wants to exhaust all potential legal remedies.

The levee is downstream from the small southern Illinois city of Cairo. The Corps says destroying the levee would flood 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland but protect the city of 2,800 residents.

Corps officials are monitoring water levels and haven't decided whether to go through with the blast.