St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 8

SATURDAY. JULY 10, 1993 THE FLOOD OF '93 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH ommunities Wrestle With Mi ghtyM iissippi Mm XI Alexandria (250) Flood stage not available LZZZZZZZJ 27.9 Monday Not available La Grange (200) Flood stage not available MOID) nun I 30.4 Not available Not available Hannibal (133) 16 feet La PERSPECTIVE GranEe Number of people displaced by the flood TOWN NAME (000) FLOOD STAGE Friday's level 29 132 Monday 128.6 1973 Louisiana (30 famines) 15 feet 125.8 I i 28 Monday .1 12 27 1973 Clarksville (About 35) 25 feet i 1 1 38 5 Tuesday 36.8 1973 Winfield (About 300) 26 feet 3 36.4 Z3: 5 VJoAnasAau Alexandria NORTH MISSISSIPPI RIVER I mtllana WinfietdO Old Monroe 1 Hannibal ILLINOIS oriro I ClarksvilleV I tSI 0 If I 1 Expected crest Record Jefferson City (400) 23 feet I 32.2 Has crested 34.2 1951 Hermann (100) 21 feet 33.9 JH crested 35.8 1986 New Haven (None yet) 21 feet 34 Not available 36.4 1986 St Charles (7,000 countywide) 25 feet as cresisa 37.5 isse 36.9 1973 Grafton (90) 18 feet fa" 3 31.0 34.5 Wednesday 33.1 1973 Portage des Sioux (30 families) 18 feet iWlMIIIHIIIII 44 iii i 13: 34.5 Wednesday 32.2 1973 West Alton (300) 21 fept i I m. 1 i Jefferson MISSOURI Not available I I I 3 i VE- Grafton Portage des Sioux au xat ic QAIton 38 WtKfiiesddy 136.7 1973 Hermann New Hgvert Washmgton St. Louis (None) 30 feet Kimmswick (2 families) Rood stage not available MISSOURI USX tA.

Pacific .1 45 Werfnescfav 143.23 1973 MERAMEC WVEf? St Louis By Virgil Tipton, Phil Linsalata andTimO'Neil Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Following is a town-by-town description of the flooding in Missouri and Illinois, starting upriver. MISSISSIPPI RIVER Alexandria, Mo. The river broke through two more spots along this town's levee Friday. Water rushing through town pushed trailers and houses off their foundations. Jay Wilson, who lives just west of town, said the water was 11 feet deep at the city gauge on Main Street In some areas, flood water is seven miles west of the riverbank, Wilson said.

The town's 500 residents left Wednesday afternoon. Canton and La Grange, Mo. After a short-lived drop in water levels caused by levee breaks upriver, La Grange and nearby Canton girded for real trouble this weekend. In Canton, Mayor Jesse Franks oversaw a mandatory evacuation of hundreds of residents as projected crests threatened to test sandbag and baffleboard additions to the city's new levee. City crews, firefighters and the National Guard worked against the clock.

Hannibal, Mo. "More people will have to move out in the next three days," predicted John Hark, director of emergency management here. Bear Creek Basin, a low-lying section of town, is hardest hit. Business owners were working hard to keep out the water. Meanwhile, projected crests threatened to top the town's new levee.

Contractors for the Army Corps of Engineers built a plywood extension to levee's flood gates and heightened the levee by two feet. Louisiana, Mo. City workers added more sandbags Friday to the intake station of the water works, and city administrator David Yohn said he was confident the water supply could be protected. People continued sandbagging along Noix Creek, which forced about 20 families from their homes because of backup from the Mississippi. Flooding threatened to inundate the city's fresh water pumps Friday as workers constructed a sandbag wall to keep the water away from the electrical equipment.

Clarksville, Mo. Downtown business owners were keeping a worried eye on a sandbag levee that stands about 10 feet high as high as volunteers could build it. If the water climbs two more feet it will top the wall, flooding dozens of shops. 1 Much of Highway 79 through town is flooded, and City Clerk Lou Estes said eight units on the first floor of an apartment building occupied by senior citizens were evacuated Friday. Some residents left their homes because sewers were backed up with flood water, Estes said.

Elsberry and Lincoln County Workers lined up concrete highway dividers along the city side of the Burlington Northern tracks Friday as flooding moved within a few hundred yards of Elsberry, which normally is seven miles from the river. Mayor Bill Waggoner said sandbags should keep the water out. Workers already had stuffed railroad culverts with sandbags. A levee southeast of Elsberry broke Friday, and water continued spilling over levees to the east and north. At Winfield, water reached the tracks.

And in Old Monroe, in far southern Lincoln County, flood backup on the Cuivre River was just below old Missouri Highway 79. Grafton The Salvation Army dished out 600 dinners, including 100 delivered by boat Friday, said Sharlene Laswell, a volunteer. Ten families fled the steadily rising waters Friday, and "a lot more will have to move out before it crests," predicted one city worker. Portage des Sioux The Missouri and Mississippi rivers encircled Portage des Sioux's 500 residents Friday. Don Delaney, 58, the owner of the town's only grocery store, layed in 'extra supplies.

"We fully expect the water to cut us off and we are prepared for it. All the elderly, the invalids and many of the children are out of town," Delaney said. From his house on Highway 94, Mayor George Combs watched the water move closer Friday. "It's creeping in the ditches I'll have it in my house before long," he said. Alton Illinois Gov.

Jim Edgar provided a few shovelfuls of sand in Alton on Friday before announcing that he would send half of the newly activated 1,000 Illinois National Guard troops to the Metro East area. Three nearby shops on State Street, one selling antiques, one flowers and one gifts, will be flooded when the river tops out Wednesday, 32 feet higher than it is now, officials said. Alton Belle chief financial officer J. Thomas Long said additional parking lots have been leased to serve gamblers whose usual parking spots may be underwater. A special ramp has been built because the casino's usual gangways are inundated.

St. Louis Police officers distributed evacuation warnings in an area of at least 200 homes along the lower River Des Peres. City officials said they would, ask people to leave when the river rises to 43 feet, two feet shy of the levee top along the River Des Peres possibly as early as tonight. Workers are to begin sandbagging today to raise a low part of that levee by another two feet. Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.

urged citizens to call police if they see anyone opening fire hyrants. Bridges over the River Des Peres on Alabama Street and South Broadway remained closed, as did an exit from northbound 1-55 to Carondolet Avenue and from southbound 1-55 to Germania. East St. Louis Levees held the Mississippi, but crews worked to plug leaks in floodgates and stone walls. Divers sealed a leak that had sprung in one floodgate about a third of a mile upstream from the Martin Luther King Bridge.

Crews also piled up sandbags on the river side of the gate to try to stop dripping water. St. Louis County County officials said people in about 55 of the 60 residences in Lemay within a block or two of Kayser Creek an offshoot of River Des Peres were evacuated by midday Friday. James Brady, county police spokesman, said police also stopped by another 100 homes in somewhat less danger urging them to also leave. But he said fewer than half of those residents had gotten out by midday Friday.

Volunteer sandbagging crews completed 5-foot wall along a stretch of the creek. County officials invited flood victims to store cars, trucks, boats and trailers containing personal items and furniture in secure parking areas in three county parks. The sites are at Jefferson Barracks Park in South County, the National Museum of Transportation, 3015 Barrett Station Road, west of Kirkwood, and McDonnell Park on Adie Road east of North Lindbergh Boulevard in North County. Arnold About a dozen homes and at least two businesses have been flooded by water from the Mississippi River that has backed up into the Meramec River, and 30 to 50 homes could be affected by the time the Mississippi crests, said John Brazeal, the city's director of finance. FestusCrystal City By Friday afternoon, about a dozen homes and 20 businesses had been flooded, said Mayor John Graham.

The Red Cross opened a shelter at the Festus Armory Friday and accepted more than 50 people accepted. In Crystal City, officials asked residents Friday to conserve use of water during the flood emergency. About 15 homes have been evacuated on the south side of the city and about 15 businesses have been flooded, officials said. Hastings said National Guardsmen were helping move people's property, provide security and help with sandbagging. The bridge over the Mississippi was restricted to one lane Friday, officials said.

Elsewhere in Randolph County, the Sheriffs Department was using a mo-torboat to carry residents of Kaskas-kia Island to the mainland. Kimmswick Volunteers have worked all week to construct an earthen dike on the southeast side of the town to protect about two dozen historic buildings. "We're still ahead of it," said Mayor Martha Patterson. The dike should be at least a foot higher than the predicted 45-foot crest on Wednesday. That gave business owners and residents a feeling of security Friday, but some were still moving their wares to safer places.

Ste. Genevieve By Friday, 170 families had left their homes, said emergency worker Jean Rissover. Meanwhile, workers raced to keep out the rising water. The levees were holding, thanks to hundreds of volunteers and National Guard troops, Rissover said. The National Weather Service expects the crest to be higher than the town's levees.

If the workers can continue to build up the levees with sandbags, then the levees "have a good chance of holding," Rissover said. Cape Girardeau, Mo. Displaced residents camped on high ground in neighbors' yards, said emergency coordinator Mark Hasheider. "And we have some people who have not left their homes entirely and are just hanging in there," Hasheider said. MISSOURI RIVER Jefferson City The water level held steady Friday.

But northern Jefferson City, the former Cedar City, was still under water, displacing about 400 people. A state health lab had arranged to set up a generator in case the water edged up too close to an electrical switching station near the lab. Washington Washington's position on the bluffs of the Missouri River helped residents avoid flooding. The river backed up into a small creek in the eastern end of town, but no residents were driven, from their homes, said Carol Sexton, Washington's emergency coordinator. Hermann, Mo.

Residents were relieved to hear from the the National Weather Service that the river had crested at Hermann but "I'm sure no one's going to remove a whole lot of sandbags until they know the water's gone," said City Clerk Dolores Grannemann. St. Charles County Three area legislators took a helicopter tour over St. Charles County Friday afternoon. They saw the Miss- ouri River being held back by levees for the most part, but water from the Mississippi moving quickly south across the county.

The ring levee where the Missouri River has broken through to the peninsula in previous floods to join the Mississippi near Portage des Sioux was holding Friday. Although there was a break Friday in the levee along the Missouri in the Black Walnut a secondary levee held. Roy Malone, Ralph Dummit, Patrick E. Gauen, Margaret Gillerman and Judith VandeWater of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed information for this story. yT Kimmswick 1 45 Wednesday Not available Festus (2 families) Flood stage not available 1 3 43 1973 Crystal City (15 families) Flood stage not available 342 3 45 Wednesday 43 2 1973 Ste.

Genevieve (170 families) 27 feet 3 iltv 142 1973 Chester (None yet) 27 feet 340.5 JrtrWat RIVER State By State Authorities in seven states report many rivers in both the Missouri and Mississippi watersheds at or above their banks, and more rain on the way. Thursday night Nebraska suffered heavy thunder-I storms and tornadoes, with winds of 100 mph: meanwhile more than 6 inches of ram fell in southwestern Iowa. Deaths: 1 Evacuated: 900 homes, including 500 in Lake County. Damage: Estimated 938,000 acres of corn and 1.1 million acres of soybeans; agriculture officials say loss could be $133 million for failed or unplanted crops. I National Guard troops called out: 15 for two days.

Counties declared disaster areas: 17 of 66 for overall flooding and 33 for agriculture damage. Watershed: Rooding on the James, Vermillion and Big Sioux rivers in the Missouri River watershed. National Guard troops called out: 20. Counties declared disaster areas: 3 of 93. Watershed: Parts of the Missouri River, rivers and creeks.

many Deaths: 3 Evacuated: Of 3,000 families evacuated, 30 are still homeless. Damage: More than 1 million acres of farmland damaged or unplanted. National Guard troops called out: 200 at the peak of flooding, but all are deactivated now. Counties declared disaster areas: 23 of 87 Levees: 1 major failure at Split Rock and several small agricultural. Watershed: Mississippi.

Deaths: 4. Counties declared disaster areas: 37 of 72. Damage: More than 1,580 homes in 17-county area from east of Lake Winnebago to Mississippi River suffered damage. Total statewide damage estimated at $256 million. National Guard roups called out: 50.

Rooding: Lakes and streams throughtout the state and the Mississippi watershed. Deaths: 1 Evacuated: More than 6,000 people. Pamage: Estimated as much as $1 billion to crops and flooded towns. National Guard troops called out: 650. Counties declared disaster areas: 51 of 99.

Watershed: The Mississippi, Missouri and Des li'i Moines rivers. Deaths: 1 Evacuated: Estimated 6,200. More than 450,000 acres of farmland damaged, no dollar estimate yet. 'National Guard troops called out: 2,200 currently activated. Counties declared disaster areas: hU 26 of 102.

Levees: 4 failed or overtopped, at Keithsburg, Chouteau Island, Oquawka, Meyer; 5 threatened, at Sny Island, Grave, Warsaw, Niota and Lima Lake. Mississippi. Deaths: 9 EVacuated: People from at least 30 small towns, 1 About 7,000 people from St. Charles County; 500 from Clark County near the Iowa borders. Damage assessment: Estimated damage to just five counties $3.45 million.

The estimate is HI: expected to increase. 'National Guard troops called out: 905 Levees failed: 120. Watershed: Missouri and Mississippi rivers. rrV 1 NEBRASKA I 1 Thitrerlav F43.3 1973 Cape Girardeau (30-35 families) 32 feet ,.1 4 Friday I 45.6 1973 Festus Crystal City MISSISSIPPI RIVER -Ste, Genevieve if) Chester ippi -Cape Gtrardeau Graphic by Tom MINNESOTA SOUTH Vi WISCONSIN VI DAKOTA A. 1 i I -A MISSISS MISSOURI ILUNOIS I IARGF mp St.

Louis "vX I MISSOURI Jx Borgman.