Sandbagging efforts intensify in Cape; breaks on property taxes available to flood victims

Volunteers filled sandbags in Cape Girardeau's Red Star neighborhood Wednesday as floodwaters continued to rise.

Members of Southeast Missouri State University's football team and other volunteers helped fill and stack sandbags, said Stan Polivick, assistant director of public works. The State Emergency Management Agency provided the city with a machine that fills four sandbags simultaneously, Polivick said.

The city's fire department is keeping the machine filled with sand, he added.

As of midafternoon Wednesday, no houses had been flooded, Polivick said. Mississippi River floodwaters stood at over 42 feet at Cape Girardeau. The river is forecast to crest Saturday night at 48.5 feet.

A number of homes and businesses in the Red Star neighborhood on the city's northeast side and in the Meadowbrook neighborhood on the city's far south side are expected to be flooded later this week, Polivick said.

From left, Andrew Forbes, Giovanni Negron and Kendall Donnerson load up a truck Wednesday with sandbags for residents of the Red Star neighborhood in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

Meanwhile, Cape Girardeau County Assessor Bob Adams said Wednesday property owners whose homes have been damaged by flooding qualify to have those properties removed from the 2017 tax rolls.

State law allows such a move when residential structures are destroyed by a natural disaster, provided the county commission in that county has enacted those provisions, Adams said.

Cape Girardeau County Commission enacted those provisions in 2003, he said.

Property owners whose homes have been damaged to the point they are unoccupied and uninhabitable qualify to have the assessments of those structures removed from the 2017 tax rolls, Adams said.

If the damaged structures are repaired and the homes reoccupied within this year, the properties will be placed back on the tax books on a pro-rata basis, he said.

By law, commercial and agricultural improvements do not qualify, Adams said.

Requests for site assessment and damage verification should be made as soon as possible, preferably by June 1, he said.

Requests may be made by calling the assessor's office at (573) 243-3123, through email at appraisal@capecounty.us or by visiting the assessor's office in Jackson.

In areas south and west of Cape Girardeau, rivers have fallen as communities begin cleaning up from unprecedented flooding.

Flooding along the Current River devastated large parts of Doniphan and Van Buren earlier this week. Floodwaters damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes and 13 businesses in Van Buren, Carter County Sheriff Richard Stephens said.

More than 20 businesses and churches, along with many homes, were damaged at Doniphan, according to residents and officials.

Residents on the south side of Poplar Bluff voluntarily evacuated earlier this week as a result of flooding along the Black River.

Roads were closed, and school was canceled in the wake of the flooding, Poplar Bluff officials said.

Wappapello Lake crested Tuesday, just shy of the record crest.

Clearwater Lake, which rose more than 30 feet in a 72-hour period, was expected to crest midweek after water began crossing the overflow spillway -- the first time the overflow has been used -- Monday at Clearwater Lake, Army Corps of Engineers officials reported.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

The Daily American Republic newspaper contributed to this report.