REMOVAL OF FLOODED STRUCTURES AIDS CAPE

Seated in his car, Stephen Williams casts a knowing eye over a lonely stretch of South Sprigg Street that floodwaters have turned into a lake.

To the casual observer, the '95 flooding mirrors that of 1993.

But Williams knows better. When he looks out over the watery landscape, he sees fewer houses than before.

Thanks to a 1994 federal grant administered through the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the city of Cape Girardeau razed about 30 structures in the flood-prone Red Star and Smelterville areas.

Two churches, some 20 homes and a number of garages were removed. Lots were cleared and the rubbish hauled off. The work was done by a local contractor at a cost of $87,860.

As the city's housing assistance coordinator, Williams oversaw the project.

The program dealt only with property owners who wanted to have structures torn down and their lots cleared. Many of the structures were vacant at the time of the 1993 flood.

Williams said the city could have done even more had more people been interested in moving out of the flood plain. The city had a grant for $105,000. It returned the money it didn't spend.

Unlike those in the federal buyout program, property owners retained possession of their land. The grant just paid the cost of demolishing the structures.

Williams said that meant City Hall didn't get saddled with maintaining small lots scattered throughout Cape's flood-prone neighborhoods along the Mississippi River.

Some of the participating property owners received flood assistance through other programs to move to higher ground. The demolition program saved the property owners the cost of tearing down badly damaged homes and outbuildings, Williams said.

Some structures were burned down by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department for training exercises, reducing the cost of the demolition contract.

Under the program, property owners are free to sell the tracts, and structures can be built on the land provided that any living quarters are elevated out of the flood plain, Williams said.

But today, the lots remain vacant, with only trees rising out of the murky floodwater.

Williams uses them as signposts as he points out where this house or that home once stood.

"The people found other places to go," he said.