Meramec River crests; roads remain closed

VALLEY PARK, Mo. -- Residents and officials in small towns along the Meramec River here breathed a sigh of relief Saturday morning as floodwaters crested and appeared to leave the worst damage behind after torrential rains this week flooded towns throughout Missouri.

Army Corps of Engineers Col. Lewis Setliff said the Meramec crested in Valley Park around 10 a.m. Saturday. The river reached a level of 37.8 feet Saturday morning, well above the flood stage of 16 feet but still below the record 39.7 feet, according to the National Weather Service.

Setliff said a new $49 million levee held back floodwaters that lapped within a few feet of its top.

"It's a 100-year event, and it's a 100-year levee," Setliff said. "It got tested, and it passed."

Business carried on as usual at Meramec Jack's bar and grill, where owner Tracy Ziegler was pouring cold beer Saturday morning. She and other residents said the worst flooding seems to have passed.

"I haven't even lifted my computer off the floor in the office," said Ziegler, 47. She said she bought the bar in August 2005, just after the Army Corps of Engineers finished the earthen levee just a few hundred yards from the bar. She was confident it would hold.

"Why would they spend $50 million if they expected it to fail?" she said.

In southern Missouri, several breached levees released floodwaters that forced authorities to evacuate towns west of Cape Girardeau. At least 200 homes and 13 businesses have been evacuated in Cape Girardeau County, said emergency management director Dick Knaup.

At least 70 Missouri counties reported flooding last week. Gov. Matt Blunt issued an executive order Friday allowing the Department of Natural Resources to grant waivers to help expedite the removal and disposal of flood debris. The order gives the DNR the discretion to waive laws and rules pertaining to waste disposal. Blunt also said the Department of Health and Senior Services will waive fees for testing private wells for contaminants.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported that its crews in boats and in the air had rescued 52 people and 15 pets this week from floodwaters in and around Poplar Bluff, Allenville and Eureka. Forty people were trapped on Coon Island near Poplar Bluff after a levee broke Wednesday but were rescued by two Coast Guard helicopters sent from New Orleans.

Flooding on the Meramec should top 1993 levels at several other Missouri towns, including Eureka, Fenton and Pacific.

'People are tired'

Maj. Byron Medloch of the Salvation Army said that 1,000 people displaced by the Meramec were housed in shelters. Another 1,000 had been in shelters near Poplar Bluff in far southeast Missouri, where the surging Black River breached several levees, though Medloch said many began returning home Friday.

"People are tired," Medloch said. "Tired of fighting and tired of waiting."

Donna Gerstein-Russell, who just moved her medical transcription business from another St. Louis suburb to Valley Park in January, was evacuating but "staying positive."

"The biggest thing is not knowing what to expect," she said.

In nearby Eureka, an 88-year-old great-great-great-grandmother, Louise Cassidy, who was helping the sandbagging efforts, survived a flood in nearby Valley Park in 1945. She had 3 feet of water in her home five days after giving birth to her third child, so she now wants to help others survive this flood.

"I was rolling bags and tying them," she said. "I can't lift them because I'm not as young as I used to be, but I figure every little bit helps."

By Friday afternoon, 147 roads were closed in the state because of flooding, down from a high of about 250 earlier in the week.

Water crept toward the edges of Interstate 44 in western St. Louis County, prompting authorities to narrow traffic to one lane in some spots and leaving traffic at a standstill for miles.

In Pacific, police urged those in motorboats to stay away from flooded neighborhoods, worried that wakes could cause even more damage to the 200 or so flooded homes.

In Fenton, the mayor put out a call for volunteers to help fill sandbags to try to fight off the Meramec.

In Dutchtown, residents picked through belongings and pumped water from flooded homes a day after the small town was evacuated and covered by 3 feet of water.

Residents said a system of channels and levees around Dutchtown protects it from the Mississippi River. But on Tuesday, rain was so heavy that creeks swelled near town, causing a surge that quickly swept through homes and businesses.

"It was a matter of 15 minutes," said Marsha Carroll, 29.

She and her husband, Travis, were told to evacuate at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Marsha said that as they drove out of town, a wall of water came rushing over the road. Travis hit the gas pedal and hurried through it.

"If he hadn't punched it, it would have carried us off," she said.