GOVERNOR EXAMINES DAMAGE; sTE. gENEVIEVE'S CHANCES OF HOLDING BACK RIVER `50-50'

STE. GENEVIEVE Ste. Genevieve is a city under siege.

Huge dump trucks carrying rock and sand, and "Hummers" transporting Missouri National Guard brass along with Gov. Mel Carnahan and his wife Jean rolled through the historic town's otherwise deserted streets Sunday afternoon.

Two large festivals, Bastille days and the Ste. Genevieve County Fair, were scheduled for the weekend but were canceled to keep traffic away from the town.

In this siege, the troops, two Guard companies and an army of volunteers from as far away as Arkansas, must work night and day. The number of volunteers has been difficult to estimate, but more than 600 of the required tetanus shots have been administered since the effort began. More than 4,000 meals have been served by the Red Cross at the American Legion Hall.

Jean Rissover, a volunteer spokeswoman for the city, said more volunteers are needed.

Carnahan announced that a local Federal Emergency Management Agency office should be set up by the middle of the week.

At a briefing, Carnahan said he likes the town's fighting attitude. "It's the attitude that you're going to fight it back."

Their enemy, the Mississippi River, is big and growing stronger every day.

"And he don't ever sleep," said Col. Calvin Broughton of New Madrid, who is leading the Guard's defense of the town.

"We're not getting ahead like we want to do. We're more accustomed to staying ahead," Broughton said.

On Sunday, Broughton put the town's chances of holding back the rising river at "about 50-50."

At 8 a.m. Sunday, the river stood at 42.2 feet, a rise of 1.2 feet in about 24 hours. Flood stage is 27 feet.

He predicted that the effort is approaching a crucial stage. "The next 24 hours is going to be it."

A boil water order went into effect last Wednesday, and the river has surrounded the town's railroad station, an historic landmark called the Green Tree Tavern, and the airport.

The Linden House, another historic site, has water in the basement. Other of the city's renowned French Colonial homes are in the water's path if the levee breaks, said Lorraine Stauge, director of the Bolduc House.

Already, 170 homes in the city's northern sector have been evacuated. The effort to save them is costing the city of 4,400 people $35,000-50,000 per day, which doesn't include the costs incurred by the Guard.

By day, Guardsmen patrol the six miles of levees that protect parts of the 258-year-old town, looking for "hot spots" that could develop into a devastating breach.

Sgt. Dennis Carmack of Sikeston said his company had brought 14 five-ton dump trucks to help with the effort.

By night, a helicopter flies over the levees every two hours.

The levee on nearby Kaskaskia Island already has been breached.

A new flood prediction by the National Weather Services moving the 45-foot crest back to July 19 is a mixed blessing. Grim-faced workers, who are just barely staying up with the rising river, now may be able to get ahead.

The danger is that the levees will become more and more saturated the longer the flood lasts.

"A normal crest lasts 24 hours," Broughton said. "This one is going to last for a week."

The levees were not built for such a spike.

"If we hold out, everybody's going to have a tendency to say "We won, we won," Broughton said.

"The problem is saturation. The answer is to broaden the base so we've got the strength."

If the levee were to break where the river bends, rich farmland will be flooded and the small town of St. Mary's to the southwest eventually would be inundated with 4-8 feet of water, Broughton said.

Ste. Genevieve has no formally constructed levee system, only an array of earthen structures that have been built up over the years. Rock and sandbags are being added to augment the height of the levee in places to meet the crest.

Barges are pouring 1,000 tons of rock apiece from the nearby Tower Rock Quarry atop inundated tree lines in an attempt to slow down the river. Great care must be taken that the barges don't run into the levee.

"If they don't (stop) it's all over," Broughton said.

"If you rupture (the levee), once it's over then you've got a `blue hole,'" said Broughton, who has worked on both flood and tornado relief in his role with the Missouri National Guard.

Broughton said a blue hole will blow a hole five acres across and 60-90 feet deep once the water starts going over the levee.

Around the downtown, green stripes have been painted on telephone poles to remind workers of the levee height needed to withstand the crest.

Some city streets are breaking up because the ground beneath them has become saturated.

Parking areas at the VFW Hall and the Valle High School were ant hills of activity as hundreds of sweating volunteers shoveled huge piles of sand into bags to be transported elsewhere in the city.

Broughton, Mayor William Anderson and Gov. Carnahan described the operation as a model of cooperation.

"There's a myriad of talent, all in different areas," Broughton said. "In three to four days we all came together."

The Carnahans spent most of Sunday afternoon visiting the various work sites. They shook hands, cheered the volunteers on and pitched in to fill a few sandbags.

Carnahan praised the mayor for the city's "splendid effort" and the volunteers who filled 99,000 sandbags between noon Friday and noon Saturday.

"They're Missourians and they want to save something that's precious to Missouri," said Carnahan, who spent most of the afternoon in Ste. Genevieve and also surveyed the swollen river by helicopter.

The city has been attempting to build a permanent levee along the river with federal help, but has been unable to muster the $10 million in matching funds.

"Without saving these historical homes, there will never be a chance of getting a levee," Anderson said.

Carnahan said Rep. Richard Gephardt has pledged to seek an easing of rules which would allow the city to qualify for the project.

Last month, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Ste. Genevieve as one of the country's most endangered historic places.

A news crew from the CBS program "48 Hours" has been in town the past week. They are filming the desperate attempt to spare the town from the river. The story is to be broadcast Wednesday.