The flooding throughout Missouri and the region has been devastating to say the least. People have lost their lives, homes, businesses and animlas. Mother nature's fury is simply unbelievable. However, one of the many bright spots being discussed during this horrible situation is Vally Park's new levee. It held its own! Some residents say they knew it would.
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
Associated Press Writer VALLEY PARK, Mo. (AP) -- Residents' trust in their community's new levee was justified Saturday as the earthen wall protected their town from the Meramec River, bloated by heavy rain that caused flooding across the Midwest.
The Meramec crested about midday at 37.8 feet -- its record there is 39.7 feet -- the National Weather Service said. That was just over 3 feet below the top of the levee.
Upstream in Eureka, the river crested several hours earlier at 40 feet, below that town's record of 42.9 feet. The high water pushing against the other side of the Valley Park levee didn't bother customers at Meramec Jack's bar and grill, where owner Tracy Ziegler was pouring cold beer Saturday morning.
Ziegler, 47, had been confident all along that the levee would hold. "I haven't even lifted my computer off the floor in the office," said Ziegler, who bought the bar in 2005, just after the Army Corps of Engineers finished the levee a few hundred yards away. "Why would they spend $50 million if they expected it to fail?" she said. Flood-weary residents of Missouri, Arkansas and Ohio also were fighting to save their homes after heavy rain pushed rivers out of their banks.
Parts of the Midwest got a foot of rain over a 36-hour period this week, causing widespread flash flooding. The worst flooding was along smaller rivers. The Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers saw only minor flooding. The damage wasn't as bad as some residents expected in towns along the Meramec River just west of St. Louis. In Valley Park, may people were worried Friday about the condition of a $49 million levee that the Army Corps of Engineers built there in 2005.
Water began to seep through the earthen structure Friday afternoon, but the Corps assure residents the leakage was normal. After the flood crest passed through town Saturday morning, Army Corps of Engineers Col. Lewis Setliff was elated with the levee's performance. He spent most of the morning busily cruising up and down the road across the levee's top, and said the structure remained sound.
"It's a 100-year event, and it's a 100-year levee," Setliff said. "It got tested, and it passed." Flood waters lapped near the shoulder of Interstate 44 west of St. Louis, but the highway remained open through Saturday afternoon. Traffic was reduced to a crawl in some stretches as work crews barricades parts of the highway to keep floodwaters at bay.
In southern Missouri, residents continued to clean out homes flooded after water poured through breaches in levees and forced authorities to evacuate towns west of Cape Girardeau. At least 200 homes and 13 businesses have been evacuated in Cape Girardeau County, said emergency management director Dick Knaup.
At least 70 Missouri counties have reported flooding this week. In Cape Girardeau, authorities were preparing for even more flooding on Easter Sunday as the Mississippi River surged with rainwater from states upriver. The National Weather Service predicted the Mississippi would crest at 41.7 feet Sunday and stay at that level though Monday -- well above the flood stage of 32 feet.
Gov. Matt Blunt announced the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will waive any fees for those who need to test private wells possibly polluted by flood waters. "The flooding has devastated many Missouri communities and the safety of the water supply in some areas is a very real concern," Blunt said in a statement. President Bush has declared Missouri a disaster area because of the flooding.
Elsewhere in the Midwest, rivers receded Friday in Ohio, but several areas remained under flood warnings. About 60 state roads were closed or partly blocked by flooding; crews were trying to pump water off a major route into Columbus, according to the State Highway Patrol.
Residents of the tiny Arkansas community of Georgetown along the White River were urged to leave the area Friday after forecasters said rising water would cut off their access and strand them well into next week. "Stock up or get out. You may be there a few days," said Steve Bays, a weather service hydrologist in North Little Rock.
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Associated Press writer John Gambrell in Little Rock contributed
to this report.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV 03-22-08 1628CDT
