Taum Sauk disaster was a decade ago

LESTERVILLE, Mo. -- A decade after the collapse of the Taum Sauk reservoir in Southeast Missouri, the director of Missouri State Parks said the landscape is healing.

A wall of water poured down Proffit Mountain on Dec. 14, 2005, when a 700-foot section of the Taum Sauk dam gave way.

Fortunately, the campground below the mountain had no visitors.

The park ranger, his wife and their three children were injured but recovered.

State Parks director Bill Bryan said the water scoured the land, taking everything with it, but a decade later, restoration is evident.

Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park opened again in 2010.

Ameren Missouri, Taum Sauk's owner, paid $50 million to help restore the area.