MASSIVE POWER OUTAGE CAUSED BY FLOODWATERS

The floodwaters of the Mississippi penetrated a Union Electric switching station south of the city Sunday morning, causing a two-hour power outage that affected an estimated 42,000 customers in Cape Girardeau, Scott City, Kelso and Chaffee.

Robert Wagner, a spokesman for the electric company, said the waters entered the switching station across from the viaduct substation at about 9 a.m., causing a low voltage control center to short circuit. The sub station is located Southeast of the junction of Interstate 55 and Highway 74.

Union Electric workers had to go to the station to manually switch the circuit breakers, restoring power to the viaduct substation. About 80 percent of Union Electric's customers in Cape Girardeau, all customers in Scott City and Kelso and about half of Chaffee were without power.

Power was restored to most customers by 11 a.m.

"The way we stand now, we are at about the same capacity we were before the power went out," said Wagner. "That doesn't mean we're at 100 percent capacity, but customers are receiving about the same amount of power as before."

To restore power, much of the traffic was transferred to the Wedekind substation between Jackson and Cape Girardeau, and the Oran substation.

Wagner said the water is still standing in the switching station, but poses no immediate threat to the power supply. Union Electric has lost all automated controls to the switching station, Wagner said.

"If we want to open or close the circuit breakers, we'll have to do it manually for awhile," he said. "We don't plan on having to do that long just until we can get in there and pump the water out and make repairs."

Elsewhere in the city, the Bend Road Pentecostal Church lost its battle against the rising floodwaters late Saturday night when water overcame sandbags and rushed into the church.

Volunteers and church members had sandbagged the small building on Big Bend Road near Sloan Creek on Friday and Saturday. But as floodwaters encroached, the church's pumps could not keep pace.

"I stopped late last night by the church and just looked at it," said Pat Wells, a volunteer who has helped fill sandbags for the past two weekends.

"A police officer stopped and asked me what I was doing; I told him that I just paying respects to the church and its members.

"It's such a shame," she continued. "They worked so hard to keep it out of the water."

The river reached 45.6 feet early Sunday, about 13 feet above flood stage. That equalled the previous record high-water mark set by the 1973 flood.

The river is expected to rise almost another foot by this evening.

The National Weather Service projects the river to crest at Cape Girardeau Wednesday 47.2 feet.

Sandbags set up along Big Bend Road by Sloan Creek were leaking water onto the roadway Sunday.

Cape Girardeau police closed Big Bend Road from Olive to First streets late Sunday, due to the amount of water collecting on the roadway.

Residents in the Red Star district scrambled to move their belongings or sandbag around their homes to keep the waters out.

By Sunday evening, the water was only yards from the intersection of Fourth and Main streets, approaching the Red Star church and activity center.

About 10 volunteers from St. Vincent de Paul Church in Cape Girardeau worked in the parking lot of the Red Star Baptist Church Sunday afternoon, trying to keep up with the demand for sandbags.

"We're a bunch of Catholics working in a Baptist parking lot," said Fr. Ron Hoye, who had encouraged his congregation to come out and help during the church announcements Sunday morning. "We wanted to come down and help these people out."

Also at the church parking lot was a group of teenagers "Pioneers," they call themselves from the Miner Baptist Church near Sikeston.

"It's hard work," Darren Chapman, 15, said while taking a break from shoveling sand into the bags. "I've never seen anything like (the floodwaters) it's unbelievable."

A little more than a block from the flooding, a resident wandered out of his house toward the Red Star Baptist Church lot.

"Can you imagine with all this water around that my grass is dying?" he asked.

Cape Girardeau police said they have not had much trouble with sightseers in the area over the weekend.

People with all different kinds of cameras skirted the barricaded area, trying to catch a glimpse of the floodwaters. One man sat on the back of a convertible car, video camera in hand, filming as it headed south toward downtown Cape Girardeau.

Elsewhere in flood-ravaged areas:

Residents of Olive Branch are monitoring Horseshoe Lake, which has the city pinned against the floodwaters of the Mississippi River.

"Right now it's kind of quiet here," said Joe Ruiz, Alexander County civil defense coordinator. "I guess that's good."

Ruiz said the level of the lake did not rise much during Saturday night, but continues to swell as it is fed by the river.

"We really don't know what's going to happen here," Ruiz said. "We have had a lot of volunteers help us the Coast Guard, the National Guard, even some inmates from the Illinois Department of Corrections have been brought out of help with the sandbagging.

"The good Samaritans are alive and well in Olive Branch," he said.

The Chester Bridge closed as scheduled at 6 a.m. Sunday because the river has covered the roadway on the west bank. The bridge was the only crossing point of the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis. Illinois State Police expect the bridge to be closed for several days.

The U.S. Coast Guard established a secondary field operations center Saturday in Ullin, Ill., to help coordinate activities in the three disaster response units now deployed in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

In addition, Coast Guard officials say that more reservists will be called in to assist the more than 50 active duty and reserve personnel already in the region.