Mo. families clean up in flood's aftermath

PACIFIC, Mo. -- Nick and Connie Weislar were doing everything they could think of Monday to dry out their home after floodwaters receded -- tearing up soggy carpet, building a blaze in their fireplace, running a fan, even turning on the flame on their turkey fryer.

They have lived through floods before, in 1982 and 1994, but when the Meramec River and a nearby creek rose late last week, they found themselves again trying to restore their home's interior after it had survived more than a foot of water.

"It's our third one, and I'm about tired of it. Either build a levee or buy us out," said Connie Weislar, 53, from her home in Pacific, about 35 miles southwest of St. Louis.

Flooding in Missouri killed five people last week, and left thousands unable to return home or with the unenviable task of trying to make flooded-out homes livable again.

"You know, you're not devastated until the water leaves," Weislar said.

In Pacific and other Missouri communities hit hard by flooding, residents who could go home said it could be years before their lives return to normal.

Nick Weislar, a 53-year-old iron worker, said he had heard people saying residents outside of St. Louis could "breathe a sigh of relief" because rivers had crested. That, he said, isn't really the case when your home smells of sewage and wet mud, when the furniture you weren't able to move elsewhere has to be put with the garbage at the curb, when you feel exhausted just thinking about all the cleanup.

"When the water goes down, that's when it hits you, the hard work ahead of you," he said.

It's estimated about 200 homes and businesses were damaged in Pacific, a town of about 7,000 residents.

City hall bustled with activity Monday. People stopped by to pick up donated mops and cleaners, to get questions answered or a free tetanus shot.

City Administrator Harold Selby said inspectors from Pacific and other communities had already visited properties hit by floodwaters for an initial check to determine if each was habitable. He coordinated with volunteer and church groups as well as prison officials to get about 30 inmates to help remove sandbags from outside of area businesses.

And he wondered why Federal Emergency Management Agency officials weren't immediately in town helping in the flood's aftermath.

"I think preparing for the flood was a lot easier than this phase," Selby said.

FEMA spokesman Jack Heesch said eight teams, including members who traveled to Missouri from elsewhere in the U.S., would begin preliminary damage assessments today in 41 Missouri counties.

The Weislars said they have flood insurance, but they had heard it might be a few days before an insurance company representative could assess the damage.

Clad in wading boots and with bristle brush in hand, Connie Weislar, who cleans houses for a living, stood in her now largely vacant family room with a friend who had come to help them clean. One of Nick Weislar's brothers, Christopher, lives with the couple and also helped with the efforts.

Connie Weislar knew family photos had been packed up somewhere, but she hadn't been able to find them. She knew, too, that despite her best efforts, she would find mud months from now in places she previously thought she had scoured.

"In two years, we'll be looking for something, and I'll think, 'Oh, we lost that in the flood,'" she said.