MISSISSIPPI RIVER CRESTS AT 45.6 FEET IN '73 FLOOD

Trucks loaded with furniture and household goods traveled the flooded Route FF southeast of East Prairie on March 27, 1973. The rising Mississippi River chased many people from their homes.

In 1973, the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau crested at 45.6 feet on May 1, obliterating a record that had stood since 1844.

The Flood of 1973 eventually was surpassed by the Flood of 1993's 48.5-foot crest, but it ushered in an era of rising river stages. The river crested at 43.5 feet in 1982 and 44.9 feet in 1983, both of which would have broken the old record of 42.5 feet set in 1844.

Actually, the 1884 record had been broken on April 7, 1973, when the river crested at 43.17 feet.

The year 1973 was a year in which the Mississippi River was over the flood stage of 35 feet at Cape Girardeau on nearly 200 days. Flooding in 1973 caused millions of dollars in damage in the region, much of it in Southern Illinois.

The discharge of water past the city reached a volume of 900,000 cubic feet per second in 1973, the third largest totals in recorded history.

The floodwall in downtown Cape Girardeau was completed in 1958, with the north section following two years later. The wall protected the downtown but the south end of town and the Red Star District remained vulnerable, as they are today.

The Flood of 1973 wiped out what was left of Smelterville, the area of Cape Girardeau south of the Southern Expressway.

"There wasn't much down there but it caused considerable damage to whatever was left down there," recalled Andy Juden Jr., president of the Main Street Levee District.

There were attempts to sandbag. The Southeast Missourian ran a photograph on April 30, 1973, showing people from Cape Girardeau, Chaffee and Delta helping residents of Dutchtown put sandbags around their community.

"No one knows how high the river is going to go," Juden said. "As it goes higher it's not able to hold the sandbag levees."

President Richard Nixon declared 38 Missouri counties -- 10 of them in Southeast Missouri -- disaster areas in the wake of the flooding.

The Office of Emergency Preparedness opened an office at the Arena Building a few days after the flood crest to make federal and state disaster assistance available.

By July, the eastern Missouri office of the Small Business Administration disaster loan office had distributed 11,000 applications for loans.