Work crews continue cleanup from Sunday's cloudburst

When rainwater from Sunday's thunderstorm flooded the basement of Cape Girardeau resident Barry Pfanstiel that evening, the Good Shepherd Lutheran pastor relied on sump pumps to remove the water. But then his electricity went out and wasn't restored until 90 minutes later.

About 90 residents, most of them in Cape Girardeau, called ServiceMaster Professional Cleaning Service on Monday morning for help with flooded basements, said secretary Nita Bracking. Additional employees were called in from the Sikeston office to help with cleanup efforts after Sunday's thunderstorms.

The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., reported 2.35 inches of rain at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, but much higher totals were unofficially reported across the county.

Cape Girardeau public works director Tim Gramling described Sunday's showers as an "unusual rain" and received reports of up to 6 inches in parts of the city. A number of city streets flooded and were barricaded to prevent motorists from traveling on them.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department reported it responded to 10 calls from 5 to 7 p.m. from stranded motorists.

Gramling said the city's stormwater system is not designed for the amount of rain that was dumped over a four-hour period. "This was an act of nature we really couldn't do anything about," he said.

Public works crews in Cape Girardeau and Jackson spent the day assessing storm damage and clearing debris from streets and culverts.

At Arena Golf, floodwaters carried away some of the mats at the driving range into the nearby woods.

Kent Peetz, the city engineer in Jackson, said several city streets and City Park experienced flooding. "A lot of the storm drains just couldn't handle the rain we had," he said.

About 4,500 Ameren customers inside the Cape Girardeau limits were without power at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Susan Gallagher, a spokesperson for Ameren, said all power was restored by 3:30 a.m. Monday.

Pfanstiel, who lives on Stewart Drive, recently laid new carpet in his basement and hopes it's not ruined. "We might have had a bigger mess if I couldn't have gotten those pumps running," he said.

Employees of ServiceMaster should stay busy for the next few days, Bracking said. "We've got everyone out there working and every piece of equipment on this. This is the busiest we've been since last month's heavy rain, and that wasn't nearly as bad," she said.

The National Weather Service reports a slight chance of rain after 1 p.m. today and Wednesday. The remainder of the week is expected to be partly cloudy with high temperatures reaching the mid-80s and lows around 60 degrees.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246