Flood control project brings ceremony, sigh of relief

There was no ribbon cutting, just a collective sigh of relief Monday as city and federal officials celebrated the completion of a federal flood control project designed to protect Cape Girardeau businesses and homes from flash flooding.

Cape Girardeau has been spared major storm-water flooding in recent years thanks to a $40 million federal flood control project that took 11 years to build. The work was largely finished in the fall of 2002, but it took time to get the Army Corps of Engineers project officially wrapped up and a dedication ceremony scheduled at a time that federal officials could attend.

The 2 p.m. dedication ceremony at the Osage Community Centre drew about 30 federal and city officials, civic leaders and interested residents.

"It's amazing that it has taken so long," said U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau.

Emerson's late husband, former congressman Bill Emerson, helped secure federal funding for the project.

But she said "a huge thank you" goes to local residents who approved a quarter-cent capital improvement sales tax in November 1988 to fund the local share of the project. The federal government paid 75 percent of the project cost with the city paying the remainder through the tax.

The dedication drew only one complaint.

Pat and Joe Schlosser of 1412 Howell told the dignitaries that they are glad the project is finished, including channel improvements behind their home. But they're unhappy they still have to pay $600 a year in federal flood insurance because federal flood plain maps have yet to be changed.

Pat Schlosser said she and her husband have paid out $3,600 for federal flood insurance since 1998.

City manager Doug Leslie said it could be December before the federal government changes the flood maps. Corps of Engineers officials said after the meeting that a flood study has been completed and the decision now rests with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

City officials said the flood control project was sparked by major storm flooding along Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch that devastated the Town Plaza and Kingshighway area in the 1970s and 1980s.

In May 1986, 10 to 13 inches of rain fell over the drainage area. Two people died and the flooding caused an estimated $56 million in damage to homes and businesses.

Mayor Jay Knudtson said the project has prevented millions of dollars in property damage from heavy rains in recent years.

Maj. Joe Tyron, acting district engineer for the Corps of Engineers in St. Louis, said the project will aid economic growth.

Ernie Beussink, a Cape Girardeau businessman who helped push for flood protection in the 1970s, remembers when he and others formed a local drainage district and raised money in an effort to remove brush and debris out of the south end of Cape LaCroix Creek prior to the federal flood control project.

"It has been a long time coming," said Beussink, who remembers one time hacking through vegetation with other businessmen to get a firsthand look at the drainage problem.

Beussink was one of the civic leaders who later went to Washington to lobby Congress to approve funding for the flood control project.

Wayne Miller, Corps of Engineers project manager, praised the cooperation of city staff in getting the project completed. "They did it without a grumble," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123