Overcoming adversity

Milus and Wanda Wallace stand where their house once stood in New Madrid County. When the Corps of Engineers decided to breach the levee during last spring's flood, the Wallaces' house was inundated with flood water. The couple, who were honored as the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce Farm Family of 2012, plan on rebuilding. (Photo by Jill Bock, Staff)

Flood fails to drown positive outlook of Chamber's Farm Family of Year

news@standard-democrat.com

NEW MADRID -- Milus and Wanda Wallace are starting over.

In 2011 when the U.S Army Corps of Engineers decided the only way to slow the rising waters of the Mississippi River was to breach Southeast Missouri's levees, the Wallaces saw everything they had worked for over the past 40-plus years go under water -- literally. Their farm land and their home were swept up in the muddy waters of the Mississippi.

Today, some might see a bleak picture. All that remains of the couple's home is the brick fireplace. Down the road are grain bins crumpled by the force of the roiling waters and farm sheds repaired with battered tin. An adjacent farm field stands empty.

Yet as the Wallaces stand, arms around each other, looking out over that same scene, they see their future.

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