In brief: Flood threat spurs evacuation order
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The mayor of a small southern Illinois city threatened by two swollen rivers ordered all residents to leave by midnight Saturday because a “sand boil,” an area where river water was seeping up through the ground behind the levee, had become dangerously large.
Cairo Mayor Judson Childs issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city of 2,800 residents late Saturday afternoon hours after meeting with Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, the Army Corps of Engineers officer tasked with deciding whether to blow a hole in the Birds Point levee in Missouri, downstream from Cairo, to relieve pressure on levees along the dangerously high Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Sand boils occur when high-pressure water pushes under flood walls and levees and wells up through the soil behind them. They’re a potential sign of trouble.
Childs said in a news release that the boil had been stabilized and that officials would continue to monitor it closely.
The river is expected to crest in Cairo at 60.5 feet – a foot above the local record high – by Tuesday morning and stay there through at least Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. A flood wall protects Cairo up to 64 feet, but the corps fears that pressure from the lingering river crest could compromise the wall and earthen levees that protect other parts of the city.
Rain was expected to fall in the area Saturday night, and authorities had been urging residents to leave Cairo before the mandatory order was issued.
The corps inched closer Saturday to blowing a hole in the Birds Point levee after a federal appeals court declined to stop the move.
Carey and Cannon parents of twins
NEW YORK – Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon celebrated their third anniversary with another milestone – becoming parents to a baby girl and boy.
Carey’s representative, Cindi Berger, confirmed the births to the Associated Press. The singing superstar gave birth Saturday at 12:07 p.m. EDT at an undisclosed hospital in Los Angeles. Berger said the baby girl was born first, weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces, and was 18 inches long; her brother was next, at 5 pounds 6 ounces, and was 19 inches.
Berger said the couple had not named the children yet. Berger said the 41-year-old Carey, who had gone through false labor, was calm, thinking that it was another false alarm.
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Cannon was so nervous he went to the wrong department at the hospital, and was guided to the maternity ward by a nurse.
“It was like right out of an ‘I Love Lucy’ skit,” said Berger.
Kate’s bridal style stirs fashion frenzy
NEW YORK – Seconds after Kate Middleton emerged from her car outside Westminster Abbey in a ball gown with lace sleeves, designers around the country, glued to their TV sets, were sketching her look, setting in motion a mad rush for mass-produced versions that are expected to be in stores as early as late June.
For brides-to-be who can’t wait even four weeks, David’s Bridal, the nation’s largest bridal chain, was already trumpeting a strapless look from Oleg Cassini, paired with a lacey bolero jacket, on its website as an already available stand-in as it scrambled to push out modified knockoffs of the real thing to stores by September.
Meanwhile, QVC said shoppers will be able to pre-order earrings inspired by the diamond drops worn by the princess as early as Monday night.
Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, didn’t break new fashion trends on Friday, but fashion experts say her elegant understated look, which featured a V-neck intricate lace bodice, is expected to bring back a new era of classic wedding dressing that was just starting to re-emerge in designers’ collections.
In particular, her dress should spur a demand for lacey sleeves in all special-occasion wear and reverse the sexy strapless gowns that have been popular for several years.