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Clarksville prepares for the possibility of historic flooding

'There's a possibility that it could exceed the highest we've ever known here.'

CLARKSVILLE, Mo. — A small Missouri town is on all-out blitz to save the city from the rising Mississippi River.

Clarksville is bracing for the possibility of record-setting flooding, in large part due to an unusually snowy winter farther north.

“We’ve done this like every year," Abby Palmer said.  "Some have not been very bad and then we had a couple of bad ones."

In 2008, rising waters rushed into Clarksville, leaving parts of the town in ruins. Palmer lived through it all and watched how that devastated her community.

"It was really high. We used my brother's jon boat to get around," she said. 

Palmer said the flooding was the worst she's ever seen and it damaged many homes and shops. 

“Many of the different houses in town were affected.... Some of the businesses had gotten flooded," she told 5 On Your Side.

It's why she's working hard to prevent another disaster. 

"My town is going to flood. So we're sand bagging to try to save a lot of the community," she said. "It's nice to see that there are so many people that care about the community, especially when it's going to affect us."

So far, Palmer and other volunteers have already put down some 1,500 tons of rock and plenty of sand bags to build a flood wall. The barrier will protect about two blocks of Clarksville's downtown area. 

"They're making it a lot bigger, a lot bigger and wider. So hopefully that will help," Palmer said. 

Clarksville Mayor Jo Anne Smiley said the flooding could be worse than the flood of 1993, but Palmer is hopeful her city will bounce back. 

"We'll make it. We'll be okay," she said.

The city expects the flooding to hit sometime next Wednesday or Thursday. The mayor said the town could see at least 32.2 feet of water flow across the town. 

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