St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 1

Flo 9 3 2 TPS If 111 Color photos of the damage to the region 4A, 9A and 12A Traffic is squeezed, but keeps moving 12A Flood fighters gamble to save Prairie du Rocher, III 1V V- yT-S In 13 jjUWftMlll KiS ill Sffl VOL. 115, NO. 215 TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1993 Copyright 1993 5-STAR i (3) uwu Hope Emerges Amid Disorder By Virgil Tipton Of the Post-Dispatch Staff As the Mississippi and Missouri rivers began a slow retreat Monday from record highs, they smashed levees, shattered riverboats and generally proved they were still in charge. Nearly 12,000 people fled the threat of a fireball from a propane gas explosion. Police ordered residents to clear out of a historic town or face arrest.

River crews salvaged smashed boats and barges. Oddly, though, a sense of optimism lifted the St. Louis area. Residents learned a day late that the worst of the flood had passed. Probably.

"We still have to stay 100 percent on guard," said Lt. Steve Mueller of the St. Louis Police Department. "The same things that could have happened yesterday can still happen today. "But there might be a light at the end of the tunnel." River forecasters said the Mississippi at St.

Louis reached its crest its high point at 49.43 feet at 9 a.m. Sunday. The Missouri crested at St. Charles at 39.3 feet at 10 p.m. Saturday.

It's unlikely but still possible the rivers will rise above those marks, engineers said. As the crest roared south, towns downstream from St. Louis braced themselves and their levees. The Mississippi smashed through a levee north of Valmeyer and began drowning the homes of nearly all 900 residents, confounding weeks of work and prayer. At Prairie du Rocher, 111., authorities planned to blast a hole in a levee as a last effort to protect the town.

In Ste. Genevieve, city officials ordered 20 families to leave, fearing the Mississippi would conquer See FLOOD, Page 6 Ir.n..,,,,,,,, Scott DinePost-Dispatch Floodwater covering the approaches to the new Lewis Bridge (left) and the old Clark Bridge at Alton. The photograph was taken Monday from the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. See Story on Page 8A. Breakaway Barges Gave City Close Call kv 7T Evacuees Also Have Rush Hour Propane Threat Forces 11,800 To Leave Homes By Joe Holleman, Cynthia Todd and Robert Duffy Of the Post-Dispatch Staff For many, the knock on the door came before dawn.

Then sirens started blaring. So began the exodus of 11,800 residents from their homes ordered early Monday by officials who worried that leaking propane gas might explode in a huge fireball. The gas seeped from a flotilla of 51 propane tanks that bobbed near the flooded River Des Peres. As a precaution, officials evacuated residents in parts of south St. Louis as well as in Lemay and East Carondelet.

After two small fires at the site Sunday, authorities evacuated residents and closed all businesses within a one-mile radius of the Phillips Petroleum Co. tank yard, 8722 South Broadway. Throughout Monday's early hours, people hurriedly packed enough clothes for as long as five days and left their homes, hoping they would have something to come back to. By Phil Linsalata Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Only with the Burger King barge and the minesweeper Inaugural corralled after their wild tear down the Mississippi did the danger of the previous night's chase begin to dawn. Ralph Break, a spokesman for the St.

Louis Fire Department, said Monday that the episode could have been much worse. "Think about the mass of the barges and boats that broke loose," said Break. "If they had hit a more vulnerable area a flood wall, a flood gate, there could have been significant and widespread damage." Floyd Warmann, owner of the vessels that broke loose from near the Gateway Arch, also was relieved. "What if that minesweeper had gone down and hit those tanks at Phillips?" wondered Warmann. "That ship is like a The Lord was with me." The crisis ended quietly by 2 a.m.

Monday, before most St. Louisans woke. It began with an electrical explosion that flashed when the power lines to the unattended vessels ripped loose as the moorings failed. It was 10:47 p.m. Sunday when a ranger at the Gateway Arch called in what he first thought was a fire.

Within minutes, the Coast Guard See BREAK, Page 5 i St. Charles County: Residents hope the worst is over SA i Ste. Genevieve, Historic town braces for record flood 5A i Jefferson County: Riverfront mood turns to optimism 5A i River Des Peres: Flooded river finally begins its retreat. v. 6A i Propane Problem: Receding floodwater lessens chance of disaster from floating propane tanks.

7A i Town By Town: Damage in Missouri and Illinois. 10A Secured Casino: Operators of Alton Belle and Casino Queen casinos say boats won't break loose from moorings. 11A Traffic Advice: Officials advise leaving early for work and staying late at the office 12A Chesterfield Firms: Flooded companies try to move on. 6C Wes PazPost-Dispatch Marie Wright (right) and her niece, Jackie Wright, 13, and Marie Wright's children awaiting help Monday at a shelter for River Des Peres-area evacuees at Cleveland Naval Junior ROTC High School. Marie Wright holds Jonathan, 2, and Jackie holds Amanda, 10 months.

"I've lived in this area since 1966 in this house for nine years," said Ray Gaither as he stood in the driveway of his home in the 700 block of Pardella. He had just finished loading his truck with suitcases and a chirping parakeet. Officials are uncertain how long the evacuation order will remain in effect. The evacuated area in St. Louis is bounded by Robert Avenue on the north, Interstate 55 on the west, River Des Peres on the south and the Mississippi River on the east.

The area in St. Louis County is bounded by River Des Peres and Weber Road on the north, Avenue to Paule Avenue on the west, and on the south and east by Lemay Ferry Road to Telegraph to Ripa and then Ripa to its dead-end near the Mississippi River. See EVACUATION, Page 7 WEATHER Negotiators Agree On Clinton Budget Scattered Storms Adoption Fight Ends With Tears PEO-PAJM I AP FORECAST Today Mostly cloudy, scattered storms. High 86. Storms ending tonight.

Low 64. Wednesday Partly cloudy. High 79. Other Weather, 14B INDEX Business 6-11C Classified 8-14B Commentary 7B Everyday 1-8D Movie Timetable 7D NationWorld 3A News Analysis 5B Obituaries 4B Reviews 2D.5D St. Louis IB Sports 1-5C Television 6D EDITORIAL PAGE Confirm Judge Ginsburg Why Intervene Now? 6B White House continues to court reluctant Democrats 5B Senate GOP leader Bob Dole called the measure "the largest tax increase in the history of the world." The bill provides for five-year tax increases estimated at $242 billion.

An estimated $254 billion would be saved by restraining the growth of various federal spending programs, including Medicare. More than three-quarters of the tax increase would come from those with incomes over $200,000 a year. The only provision with direct impact on most middle-income families is the 4.3-cent increase in the 14.1-cent gasoline tax. WASHINGTON (AP) Congressional negotiators settled all tax issues in President Bill Clinton's promise budget on Monday, setting up showdown votes this week in the House and Senate. Last-minute agreements would ease the sting of a tax on Social Security benefits and restrain the growth of Medicare for the elderly and disabled.

Democratic leaders predicted that the legislation, designed to cut the deficit about $496 billion over five years, would win approval. It calls for billions in higher taxes on the wealthy and a gasoline tax increase of 4.3 cents a gallon. The White House welcomed the agreement, but Republicans attacked it swiftly. Compiled From News Service ANN ARBOR, Mich. Jan and Roberta DeBoer turned their adopted child, Jessica, over to her biological parents Monday, ending an agonizing two-year custody battle with Dan and Cara Schmidt of Iowa.

Jessica cried loudly as the tearful DeBoers handed her over to their attorney and Ann Arbor police while more than two dozen reporters looked on. The child was strapped into the car seat of a minivan and driven away. The Schmidts, Jessica's biological parents, met the 2Vi year-old girl in the garage of the Ann Arbor police station before boarding a private plane in the nearby community of. POST-DISPATCH WEATHERBIRD HIP. U.

PAT. OFF. Jessica, center of a custody fight, crying after she was strapped in Monday for delivery to her biological parents. Ypsilanti for the trip to their home in Blairstown, Iowa. The plane, donated by a friend of the Schmidts, had been scheduled to See JESSICA, Page 3 09 189V 1100' See TAXES, Page 3 mmmmmmmr i.