WINFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Defiant residents of this eastern Missouri community lost one struggle against the relentless Mississippi River Friday, but quickly prepared for another.

Residents and flood fighters were saddened after a burrowing muskrat brought down the saturated Pin Oak levee shortly before dawn. But within hours, a new defense was in the works — a quickly constructed 4-foot-tall sandbag levee to protect 100 homes in the floodwaters’ path.

“We’re not quitting — the Army doesn’t quit,” said National Guard Col. Michele Melton, who was coordinating the sandbagging effort. “That’s why we’re here — to try and save these people.”

Many of the 720 residents of Winfield and people from surrounding communities have spent the last several days helping the National Guard patch one trouble spot after another.

Melton was confident the sandbag levee would be up by then. With 30,000 sandbags already filled, she figured guardsmen could construct a wall at a pace of about 300 feet per hour. The wall will be about a half-mile long.