Levee break leads to major man-drama behind the scenes: we give you both sides!

When BVD Attacks: It’s Me v. Bob Van Dillen
This all started when writer Mike asked me which river the Elm Point levee is on. Good question, I say.. I assumed all these failing levees were on the Mississippi. He says, “Van Dillen says it’s the Missouri River.” I do some investigating on the news wires and the Internet and find numerous references to it being on the Mississippi. Local newspapers, TV stations, the Associated Press all agree with me.

Supervising Producer Dave Siff, left, and meteorologist Bob Van Dillen compare "guns."

So, I blast an email to the entire Morning Express team. Bob replies to the whole group, “NO. It’s on the Missouri.” So, now I’m steamed. I call upstairs and ask for someone to call a St. Louis affiliate and ask what river this levee is on. “I want to smack down Van Dillen,” I say. This is gonna be good. Five minutes later, I get a call back. “Bad news,” says the voice on the other end. I spill my coffee. Now, I’m really steamed. In a gesture of goodwill, I blast another email saying, “Bob’s our guy, we go with Bob. Missouri River it is.”

I look up and see one of our competitors reporting the story with a map indicating the levee is on the Mississippi. Now, I am going to have a brain cramp. I briefly consider challenging Bob to an arm-wrestling match, but he’s got those infamous guns. Time to go to the gym. Of course, his guns are pea-shooters compared to the missile launchers I’m hiding under my supervisor costume.
- Supervising Producer Dave Siff

Response from Bob (a.k.a. “part-time cartographer”)
So I'm running around checking all these river gauges along the Mississippi Tuesday, and things are kind of hectic. I need to know what levees are breaking, on the verge of breaking, or are just 'overtopped', so I can make a snappy graphic for my weather segment. All of a sudden I see live pictures of a levee failing in St. Charles County, MO.

I flip open the Atlas to see what river is flooding the countryside, and see St. Charles County is actually on the Missouri River. I send Robin a message, alerting her that it is not the Mississippi, and start making a graphic showing the break. Five minutes later, Siff sends out a note to EVERYBODY that the break is in fact the Mississippi, according to local papers. I recheck the map, just to make sure I wasn't crazy and that Siff trusts a recent college grad FIRST over me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he checks the facts. Turns out, I was right, and the local guys were wrong. I email everybody back and say: "No. It's the MO and those guys are all wrong." Apparently, Dave gets angry and does some more checking, and finds out I'm correct. My producer Vickie says she wants us to fight in the parking deck, but I hear Siff is some sort of Kung-Fu master, so maybe I'll just sneak up on him and whack him in the back of his head with a map of Missouri, and run.

Or maybe we'll have to have a “gun-off” in a few weeks just to see who has the pea-shooters. If they take into account the girth of the triceps, I win hands down.
- Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen