POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING A WORRY

With a kind of morbid pride, Cape Girardeau residents will for years recall enduring the record-breaking flood of 1993.

Often, this year's flood is compared to the previous record crest for the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau that occurred in 1973.

But those who lived in Cape Girardeau two decades ago could convincingly argue they had the worst end of the bargain in 1973. It was in 1973 that the Mississippi River was above flood stage from March 10 until June 15, reaching 44.9 feet on April 30.

But it was in the midst of the devastating flood over Memorial Day weekend when the skies dumped nearly 10 inches of rain on the city in a single day.

The massive flash flood on top of the already soaked ground left more than 150 homes and businesses damaged.

Officials 20 years later hope the scenario isn't repeated.

"We have normal procedures for heavy rains in our area," said Mark Hasheider, Cape Girardeau emergency operations coordinator. "Of course, with the Mississippi as high as it is, we're looking at it a lot closer."

At Southern Expressway, in the south end of Cape Girardeau, Cape LaCroix Creek already is out of its bank with water creeping back from the Mississippi.

It's as if the Mississippi River and the Diversion Channel the drainage basins for Cape LaCroix Creek, Ramsey Branch, Hubble Creek, Castor River and other streams were sinks that are plugged.

The streams are like a leaky faucet, dripping slowly. There's not a problem until someone turns the water on.

J. Kensey Russell, city engineer, said heavy rain could be disastrous for the west end of town particularly in the areas along Walker Branch and Cape LaCroix Creek.

The creeks converge just east of Kingshighway, between William Street and Bloomfield Road. Walker Branch runs along Kingshighway, and Cape LaCroix flows from the northwest through Arena Park before passing under Kingshighway.

Russell said the Army Corps of Engineers predicted that a 2-inch rain over 24 hours "should not be a problem."

But what about a 10-inch rainfall, as fell in 1973?

Russell said a flash flood likely would inundate property near the intersection of Mount Auburn Road and Kingshighway; within Arena Park; Broadview Street near Spartech Plastics; the Golladay addition northeast of the intersection of Broadway and Kingshighway; and commercial areas along Kingshighway including the Town Plaza Shopping Center.

Even without the kind of rains that fell in 1973, the lower end of Cape LaCroix Creek could fill quickly.

"We could have a storm that does not create a problem up at Mount Auburn and (North Kingshighway), and still have a problem at the southern end," Russell said. "As the Mississippi water has backed up into the creek, the city has tried to be sure people in the creek-risk areas are aware of the situation.

"But I'm not sure we have conditions today that anybody has seen or experienced that enables us to guess what could really happen."

Hasheider said an auto-dialing system for businesses along the flood-prone creeks will enable authorities to immediately warn business owners of impending danger.

Also, most of the businesses along the creeks already are preparing for potential flooding.

Don Bruce of Fashion Designs in Town Plaza said most of the stores have sandbags ready in the event of heavy rains.

"There's not a whole lot you can do but sit and wait," Bruce said. "We had a bad flood in 1986, when we had about 4 feet of water in the store.

"But this year we have sandbags ready. At night when it rains, we put everything up on shelves and sandbag the doors."

Hasheider said the Schnucks parking lot is a "depot" for sandbags, and many of the businesses along Cape LaCroix and Walker have grabbed their share.

Although the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch flood control project in Cape Girardeau is far from completed, the city already is realizing benefits from the project.

Dean Surface, construction inspector for the Corps of Engineers, said he thinks the city will be better able now than ever to handle flooding along Cape LaCroix and Walker.

"The first 2,000 feet of channel on Cape LaCroix is considerably wider, affording more water to stand," Surface said. "The original creek could have been bankfull or better by now."

But flash flooding wouldn't be limited to the city of Cape Girardeau. As in the city, potential trouble spots in the county are those areas where water already is backed up.

Brian Miller, director of Cape Girardeau County emergency operations, said, "There's very little tolerance right now for rises in creeks and, particularly, the Diversion Channel."

Miller said heavy rains on the Castor or Whitewater rivers would drain into the bulging Diversion Channel, threatening Allenville and Dutchtown.

"The areas of greatest concerns would be, right now, Dutchtown, Allenville, the eastern county and west Cape," he said.

Miller said authorities treat any rainstorm with the "same kind of respect" that is afforded severe thunderstorm and tornado watches and warnings.

"We can't stop it from happening, but we can keep an eye on it," he said. "The weather service is very sensitive to any types of rain that might be happening in the area, and they call us right away.

"An inch or 2 of rain probably is not going to kill us anywhere," Miller said. "But if you start talking about 4 or 5 inches in the wrong place, we're really in a threatening situation."