PORT FLOOD DAMAGE COULD REACH $175,000

SCOTT CITY -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority has sustained an estimated $150,000-$175,000 in damage to its physical facilities due to Mississippi River flooding, Director Dan Overbey said Monday.

The estimate, which is just that until the water begins to recede and the damage can be surveyed, includes the cost of debris cleanup. Damage also consists of a 1,200-foot stretch of gravel road believed to have been washed out, and some erosion on the harbor banks.

The port's main road is well above the floodwater.

Gravel also has washed away on the dock itself, which was to have been paved later this year.

While that amount of damage doesn't compare to what has been sustained by cities like Ste. Genevieve, Overbey said it's "quite a bit for us."

In addition, the port has lost income from the dock operator and fertilizer company, which are ~lessees. Ordinarily, the port receives tonnage rent, similar to the percentage retailers pay the owners of the property they rent.

That income disappeared when the U.S. Coast Guard closed the river on July 11.

"Both businesses estimate $30,000-$40,000 per week in lost revenue," Overbey said. That is a combined total.

The dock operator, however, has kept most of its employees working doing maintenance.

Some of the dock operator's business has been handled by other means of transportation, which has a downside. "When you divert to other kinds of transportation, you never know how much will come back," Overbey said.

At its monthly meeting Monday, the port board approved a resolution authorizing it to file an application for disaster relief with the State Disaster Management Agency.

"SEMA needs to have estimates in hand," Overbey said of the attempt to gauge the port's damage.

At this point, he said, port officials have been led to believe that about 75 percent of the relief funding will come from the federal government, and 10 percent from the state, with the remaining 15 percent left to the localities to make up.

"It would crimp us quite a bit to have to do our part of it," Overbey said.

He said the river will have to drop another five feet for damage to the dock to be assessed, and another 10-15 before the washouts can be evaluated. That's likely to be later in the fall.

It's a guess when the river will be reopened and the port can get back into business, he said.

"Most people are thinking it may be on the order of a month."