SIGN ON THE DOWNTOWN CLOCK SAYS IT ALL: `WE LOVE OUR FLOODWALL'

A sign hanging on the street clock at the corner of Main and Themis in downtown Cape Girardeau proclaims the feelings of downtown merchants:

"We love our floodwall."

The sign was installed on the clock by John and Evelyn Boardman, two of the biggest boosters of the downtown Cape Girardeau area. The sign includes a mark determined by construction foreman Bob Hershey during his lunch hour representing where Mississippi River water would be at the predicted 49-foot crest if not for the wall. "We've talked to most downtown merchants," said Evelyn Boardman, "Some of then say that without the wall they would be located elsewhere."

"The water would be covering about four feet at the base of the clock at the 49-foot crest," said Hershey. "Moving on down Main toward Independence, the depth of the water would increase to as much as 10 or 11 feet by the time it reached Plaza Tire (corner of Independence and Main) or Hutson Furniture (corner of Main and Merriweather)."

Going north from the clock on Main, the depth of the water would decrease.

"It would be in the street at the corner of Main and Broadway, said Hershey, "but it wouldn't quite reach the sidewalk there."

"When you look at the marking that Hershey has placed on buildings south of the clock, it make you appreciate the floodwall," said John Boardman, a downtown architect.

"Halfway between the clock and Independence Street, the water would be more than five feet deep along Main."

During the pre-wall 1951 flood, water barely reached the Spanish-Independence intersection, and boats were common sights along Main and Water.

But that flood was mild compared to the record flood of 1993.

"If the wall was gone now, water would be as high as five feet at that Spanish-Independence corner," said Hershey.

Hershey, of Perryville, works with Kiefner Construction Co. He is working in downtown Cape Girardeau to install sidewalk handicapped-access areas at Independence and Spanish, and Independence and Main.

In order to get the readings of where the water would be, Hershey used a "transit" tool, lining up a 49-foot mark on the floodwall. "The transit gives an accurate reading of where the water would be," said Hershey, who has been in the construction field for more than 20 years.

"Some people are really surprised at the readings," he said.

Before construction of the floodwall in 1964, light flooding was an almost annual springtime event, and heavy flooding was reported no less than eight times during a 24-year period from 1927 through 1951. During the heavy flooding, the river recorded stages ranging from 39.5 to 42.3 feet.

The 49-foot crest will be the highest river reading at Cape Girardeau since record-keeping started in 1844, when a July flood reached 42.5 feet. That was a mild reading, however, compared to what is still referred to as the "Great Flood of 1973," when the Mississippi River crested at 45.6. And that 1973 record has already been wiped out this year. Sunday's reading was 46.7 feet with the crest predicted Thursday.

During the 20-year history of the floodwall, the river has been over the 32-foot flood stage 19 times, including at least a dozen years in which the stage hit at least 38 feet. There have been seven years with 40-feet plus readings.