VIDEO WILL ADDRESS FLOOD EFFORT

Michael Aide, chairman of the Department of Agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University, is overseeing a videotape project designed to help property owners combat flood problems.

Aide said Sunday the video will document water problems in Cape Girardeau, tell why the problems are occurring, what the city administration is doing to alleviate them, and what individual residents can do to improve drainage on their property.

Brian Satia, a mass communications student at Southeast, is helping to edit and produce the videotape, Aide said.

Copies of the video, and informational brochures detailing what residents can do to landscape their property to best prevent runoff, will be available to civic groups and citizens by June, he said.

The effort is part of the Vision 2000 Council's flood water management plan. The video will include information on the joint U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and city flood control project.

That project involves channel realignments and improvements along Cape LaCroix Creek and Walker Branch and construction of a dry detention basin north of the city.

Aide said the video will document the flood-control project so that residents, who voted to fund the city's $10 million share of the $35 million project, will better understand its scope.

"There are perhaps some people in this town who are not aware of the details of the interest the city has in maintaining safety standards in the town," Aide said, adding that two people were killed in the city's last major flash flood in 1986.

He said he hopes a combined citizen effort will further deter drainage problems.

"Cape is a city of hills," Aide said. "So, for every hill, there's a valley, and valleys receive runoff from hills.

"So there are little areas all over town that get flooded. When you get close to the bigger creek areas in town, they're more prone to major flooding, but the drainage problem areas are all over the place."

Aide said the 10-15 minute video will include footage of past flooding in the city, and where flood-prone parts of town are situated.

"We're also putting together a brochure that highlights individual things a homeowner can do," Aide said. "If each homeowner makes an incremental adjustment, then the total of all landowners would have a positive effect."

Aide teaches soil and water conservation classes at Southeast, a subject that includes terracing and landscaping techniques to prevent excessive runoff. He said the video and brochures also will help property owners identify which plants will best grow in poorly drained areas.

"It's set around landscaping, but not necessarily just to prevent water runoff, but also how to live with it what kind of plants are suitable for poorly drained areas and that sort of thing," Aide said.

He said the initial response to the video effort has been very positive.

"Everybody has been so open to us," Aide said. "Everybody's been most receptive, and I think that's indicative of the good spirit in Cape, which is what Vision 2000 is about. Using that spirit to better the community."