Disasters leave their mark in Southeast Missouri area

On May 6, 2003, the heart of Jackson looked like a sloppy teenager's bedroom.

A tornado had just ripped the town to shreds, tossing debris recklessly into the streets. Thick trees were uprooted, some landing on houses.

Several homes took direct hits. Cars were turned on their sides. The town was brought to its knees by an F-3 tornado. An F-3 tornado carries winds of 158-206 mph that can uproot trees, overturn trains and tear roofs from houses. The police and fire station had no roof. Meyer's bakery had no bakery. A dog day-care facility practically vanished.

When the tornado dissipated, it left 198 homes damaged, 57 homes heavily damaged, 13 homes destroyed and nine businesses destroyed. Homeowners filed $11.6 million in losses. Vehicle owners filed $1.7 million in damage.

The Jackson tornado of 2003 was the area's more recent big natural disaster. But unlike several that came before it in the last 100 years, the 2003 tornado didn't take any lives. It didn't even injure anyone.

Emergency and weather officials say television warnings helped people reach safety before the tornado touched down. It also helped that the tornado hit at a time in the evening when people were watching television.

The circumstances weren't such on a May Saturday in 1949, less than a year before the first "successful" tornado was forecast by two Air Force officers, E.J. Fawbush and Robert Miller.

The 1949 twister, which the National Weather Service says was an F-4, killed 22 in Cape Girardeau in the deadliest weather story of the century. An F-4 tornado has winds of more than 200 mph and as high as 260 mph. It levels houses and tosses around cars.

The tornado carved a path 200 yards wide and 10 miles long. It injured 130 people and destroyed more than 200 homes.

Hospital hallways were jammed with cots and injured people. The twister was particularly unkind to an area just east of the Red Star district. Eight of the 22 killed lived on Rand and Johnson streets. The tornado of 1949 was the deadliest natural disaster of the last 100 years.

The most widespread disaster came 30 years later in the form of a blizzard. It was the biggest snowfall since 1917-1918 and came as a surprise. Forecasters had predicted flurries.

Instead, 2 feet of snow fell during a 15-hour period on Sunday, Feb. 25, 1979. Travel was impossible. Thousands were without power. Roofs collapsed under the snow's weight. Countless people were stranded in cars, at work and in hotels. Interstate 55 was closed. Emergency hospital staffs worked several consecutive shifts because other personnel couldn't make it to the hospitals. Cape Girardeau police banned traffic, allowing emergency vehicles only. A Boy Scout troop was trapped in tents at Trail of Tears State Park. They all survived, thanks to an emergency supply of food.

A steady stream of sick and injured people clogged the emergency room. National Guard helicopters were called for emergency rescues.

The snow left almost as quickly as it arrived. Thunderstorms and intermittent rain six days later all but washed it away. Two people died as a result of the storm. The blizzard caused an estimated $8 million in damage, based on loss of sales, payroll, removal costs, repairs, overtime and property damage.

Floods common problem

The tornadoes and blizzards have been few over the century. Floods have been much more common. Before the floodwall was built in 1964, several downtown Cape Girardeau streets turned into waterways.

The floods of 1927, 1993 and 1995 stand out as the biggest of the century.

The Mississippi River in 1927 didn't get as high here as it did in 1993 or 1995, but it was part of what many scholars call the biggest natural disaster in United States history. The flooding destroyed several levees and devoured 16 million acres. In all, about 162,000 homes were damaged, 9,000 were lost and an estimated 1,000 people died.

Fewer people died in the floods of 1993 and 1995. But the 1993 flood is likely the greatest weather event for the current Cape Girardeau generation. The river level began its ascent in June and finally peaked at an all-time record high of 47.9 feet on Aug. 6. Perhaps the most unusual and stressful aspect of the 1993 flood was that the ground stayed saturated for so long.

During the time when the river was above 42 feet, fighting the flood was first priority every day.

"It was almost all-consuming for our departments," said Doug Leslie, the city manager, who was the public works director at the time.

Officials constantly worried that levees might break as the soil turned to a jelly-like substance. Levees did break in Miller City, Ill., and Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

The river prompted a flood buyout program. Floodwater threatened 151 homes in 1993. Thirty-three families voluntarily relocated to higher ground as part of the buyout. In the end, federal, state and local government spent $2.7 million repairing and buying out some 109 flood-damaged properties.

When the river rose again in 2002, only six houses in the Red Star neighborhood were affected.

The flood two years later was nearly as high, but its duration was shorter and the area impacted was less.

A few Mississippi River floods that many people don't mention in historical terms had as big an impact on Cape Girardeau as some of the monster floods.

The floods in the 1940s and 1950s are the ones that urged the city to demand a change. Downtown merchants tired of the river's constant abuse. Parts of the business district were inundated in 1943, 1944, 1947 and 1951. It was those floods that caused the merchants to get serious about building its floodwall.

Likewise, the flash flood of 1986 forced residents to get serious about stormwater control. Ten inches of rain in 24 hours filled the LaCroix Creek floodway and spilled into streets and businesses in the Town Plaza area. That flood caused $56 million in damage.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635