Lack of power backup could be flaw in the plan

For one month during the Great Flood of 1993, the Main Street Levee District in Cape Girardeau had to rent a powerful generator to keep pumping groundwater into the Mississippi River and prevent flooding inside the floodwall. The cost was $40,000.

The lack of any provision for providing electricity if AmerenUE has a power failure is the flaw levee district president Andy Juden Jr. sees in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan to make improvements in the city's flood-control system.

"That wouldn't be Ameren's fault," he said. "It's usually an act of God."

If that act of God involved thunderstorms and rain, the city's downtown could quickly be inundated in the event of a power outage, Juden said.

The real flood danger downtown Cape Girardeau faces is from storm water kept inside the floodwall. During normal times, storm-water collected in downtown Cape Girardeau flows naturally into the Mississippi River through outlets under the floodwall. When the level of the river goes above those outlets, preventing the natural flow, storm water is pumped into the river to prevent accumulation. A power outage could prevent that from happening. "We could physically end up with more water inside than out," Juden said.

St. Louis has generators that can be moved from site to site in an emergency. A generator of that size costs about $250,000.

-- Sam Blackwell