FLASH FLOODING STRANDS MOTORISTS; HEAVY RAINS FLOOD HOMES, ROADS IN CAPE GIRARDEAU, BOLLINGER COUNTIES

Patrolman Richard Schmidt waded toward a stalled truck Friday night after the heavy rains pushed Cape La Croix Creek out of its banks on Mount Auburn Road near Kage Road. Two other cars were also stalled out in the water at the intersection.

Thad Schwepker never delivered the fast food.

Flooding on Route W stranded him inside his Volkswagen Jetta and then forced him to climb over his car to higher ground to escape a river of water Friday night.

Schwepker was one of a number of people rescued Friday after heavy rains overflowed creeks and drainage ditches and backed up storm sewers.

Some areas received more than 4 inches of rain, much of that in just a few hours, disaster officials said.

Most of the flooding occurred between 9 p.m. and midnight.

Flash flooding closed roads and flooded homes in Cape Girardeau County. It also flooded homes and businesses in Bollinger County.

In the city of Cape Girardeau, most of the flooding was along Cape LaCroix Creek and streets in the area of Arena Park.

Floodwaters covered part of the parking lot of the new Osage Park Community Centre, but officials said Cape Girardeau Central High School students who were attending an all-night graduation party in the building were never in danger.

City officials said flood-control improvements that have been made in recent years along Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch prevented even worse flooding.

Water came almost to the top of the Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch drainage channels along Kingshighway.

But city officials said the system worked.

Officials hope to construct a detention basin north of the city as part of the flood control project.

That could have helped reduce the flooding, said Cape Girardeau Public Works Director Doug Leslie.

Rain-swollen Hubble Creek overflowed in Jackson, forcing police to close the city park. A number of streets were flooded, including a section of Highway 61 near the water slide.

"It was a mess here," said Jackson Police Lt. Robert Bonney. "We had people call in that their basements were flooded."

In Bollinger County, Crooked Creek overflowed its banks in Marble Hill. It was the worst flooding there since 1982, Fire Chief Jim Bollinger said.

He estimated Marble Hill received about 5.5 inches of rain Friday, including about 3 inches Friday night.

Rescue workers evacuated people from about 25 homes im Marble Hill and Glen Allen.

"We had probably 10 to 12 houses that had water in them," said Bollinger. A few businesses also had flood damage. Floodwaters at one point even threatened city hall.

"I feel like were quite fortunate. It could have been a whole lot worse," the fire chief said.

Flooding along the Whitewater River closed Highway 34 at Burfordville for a time, surrounded the historic mill and left water in at least seven homes.

Red Cross workers delivered mops, brooms and other cleanup supplies to Burfordville residents Saturday.

A delivery man for BG's Olde Tyme Deli & Saloon, Schwepker was trying to deliver an order of grilled chicken salad and potato skins to Lamplighter Mobile Home Park around 10 p.m.

He thought his car could make it over the flooded roadway. "Before I knew it, water got in the exhaust."

"When the car first got stuck, I stuck my head out of the window. I saw a snake floating right in front of my car," the 25-year-old Cape Girardeau man said.

A couple used their pickup truck to push his car to the side of the road at the driveway to Armor Mini Storage.

Schwepker climbed onto his fast-flooding car and then over a fence to the higher ground of the Armor Storage site near the flooded Cape LaCroix Creek.

"The mailbox closest to my car was just about covered," he said. "I saw logs and all kinds of stuff just floating all around it."

Schwepker said he was stranded for about an hour and a half before being rescued by a fireman and a police officer.

"They threw me a rope," he said. Schwepker then waded through thigh-high water to reach the rescue truck.

"My whole car looks ruined," he said Saturday. "I got all kinds of dirt and grass up in my engine, under my hood."

Cape Girardeau police officers and firefighters rescued several motorists. Authorities evacuated several residents of a small trailer court near Hopper Road and North Kingshighway around 9:30 or 10 p.m.

A police officer rescued a woman who had sought safety on top of her car in the Mount Auburn and Kage Road area. After she was rescued, her car floated away.

"We had a lot of street closures," said fire department official Mark Hasheider, who serves as the city's emergency preparedness director.

"It flooded very quickly, but it also receded very quickly," he said.

A woman and three children nearly drowned when their car was swamped by floodwaters on County Road 621 along Juden Creek.

Water was almost up to the windows of the car doors when they were rescued with the aid of four-wheel drive pickup truck.

The near tragedy occurred around 10 p.m. in a secluded area along the rural road north of Cape Girardeau.

"What saved her was she had a cellular phone," said Jim Hanks, fire chief of the East County Fire Protection District.

The incident was one of five rescues made by the volunteer firefighters and district residents Friday night, Hanks said.