LONG PAST -- AND FUTURE -- FOR STE. GEN

The pictures from Ste. Genevieve in 1993 of ravaging floodwaters lapping against the top of a levee of sandbags hastily being created by volunteers from across the country won't be forgotten for a long time.

The Mississippi River flood of that year was like none other in recent times. Only because of the volunteer sandbaggers, who worked around the clock in sweltering heat stacking more than 1 million sandbags, was Ste. Genevieve's historic downtown area spared.

The river rose again in 1995 to unexpected levels, but this time the temporary levee that was built during 1993 was still in place. Unlike 1993, the historic business district stayed dry in 1995, although other unprotected parts of the town were inundated.

If all goes well with construction of a $48.7 million levee project -- and the unpredictable Mississippi doesn't go on another wild ride before the turn of the century -- the floodings of 1993 and 1995 may well be Ste. Genevieve's last.

The town, with its rich, French-colonial heritage and buildings that date back to the 1700s, should be spared future floods, and a lot of people realize the need for protection. The federal government is picking up three-fourths of the cost of the new levee. The state is kicking in a $5.5 million grant and the National Trust for Historic Preservation gave the city a $5 million grant. Voters in the town of 4,400 overwhelmingly passed a half-cent sales tax to fund the remaining $1.5 million for the levee.

The levee will range from 21 to 28 feet high and will stretch the entire 3 1/2-mile length of the Ste. Genevieve riverfront. It will be designed to protect the town from a flood that reaches 52 feet on the Ste. Genevieve gauge. That is 2 1/2 feet higher than 1993's record crest, considered to be a flood that comes along once in 500 years.

Work on the five-phase project began in August, the groundbreaking coinciding with the city's popular Jour de Fete. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2000 or early in 2001. When completed, the levee will be maintained through a tax to be levied on property owned by the residents it protects.

Without the levee, Ste. Genevieve's historic buildings would eventually be destroyed through repeated flooding. It is important that the community, a popular spot on Missouri's tourism trail, be preserved.