Rivers Pouring More Troubles Into St. Louis

The Mississippi River rolled to a new high Tuesday night, hurling more floodwater through a levee along a tributary on the south side of town and trapping at least two city workers in water up to their necks.

Authorities sent a fire boat to rescue them. But the driver of a front-end loader reached them first and hauled them to safety. A fireman said the workers were plugging holes in the levee. At one point, he said, up to three might have been trapped--but that all were saved.

The new flooding came as the Mississippi swept a torrent of backwater into the River Des Peres for a second time in three days. The water broke through a 12-foot span of sandbags. Police shouted through bullhorns urging hundreds of residents to flee. Crews ran to the levee and repaired it.

Then, in early evening, floodwater burst through again. It overwhelmed the city workers and an army of sandbaggers guiding trucks to four breaches along two miles of levee. The flood swamped houses, buckled streets and burst a half-dozen utility mains. Tap water was contaminated. Sewage rose in uncounted homes.

To the northwest, Des Moines hoped to begin restoring its water service today. Taps and hydrants have been dry since flooding damaged a water plant 10 days ago. Refilling 810 miles of pipe was delayed by “water cheaters” who turned on faucets Monday and drained half a million gallons before the system re-pressurized.

In Washington, the House Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to approve a request from President Clinton for $2.48 billion in flood aid. The committee added $500 million of its own. Clinton has said he might ask for still more. Estimates of damage in the Midwest ranged to $10 billion. The death toll stood at 31.

Following a day of general sunshine, weather in several states turned bad. Hail and rain pelted Missouri. At one point, two inches fell at St. Louis in an hour. Storms raised the danger of new flooding in parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Forecasters at WeatherData, Inc., predicted heavy rain in western Illinois.

At 7:30 p.m. local time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the Mississippi climbed to 47.1 feet above river bottom near the Gateway Arch in St. Louis--two-tenths of a foot higher than a 46.9-foot record it set Sunday night. The National Weather Service said the river might crest even higher early today.

The St. Louis flood wall stands 52 feet tall, so the central city and the base of its arch were expected to be safe. Downstream in south St. Louis, however, the threat was considerable. “It is hold your breath for the next 24 hours,” said Tom Dietrich, a weather service hydrologist. “It is touch and go until this river settles down.”

The Army Corps of Engineers said the surging crest would be the highest on record along 100 miles of the river and could topple levees as far south as St. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau, Mo., where National Guard troops and volunteers rushed to shore up their river walls.

The town of Festus, about 30 miles south of St. Louis, called in 100 additional National Guard troops to fortify a downtown levee. Festus is more than a mile from the Mississippi, but streams that feed the river have backed up into town, flooding about 30 businesses and several homes.

Jean Rissover, emergency operations spokeswoman in St. Genevieve, said the historic town was trying to stockpile sandbags. “A small hole of 10 to 20 feet in the levee about 12 miles from here last night took 5,000 bags to fill,” she said. “That shows you the kind of stockpile we think we need.”

At St. Mary, south of St. Genevieve, 30 homes and businesses already were under water. An eight-foot levee protected a farm office, restaurant, service station and the Post Office. “We sandbagged all day and got it shored up,” said City Clerk Joann Donze. “Now we are just waiting.”

Across the river in Kaskaskia, Ill., dozens of volunteers worked to reinforce a 100-foot-long wall thrown together overnight to surround a sand boil inside the town levee. “We are holding our own for now,” said Emily Lyons, an official with the town drainage district. “We are watching.”

Missouri

In south St. Louis, authorities said the normally timid River Des Peres was overwhelmed along its entire length because of the Mississippi backwater. Evening hail and rain only added to the river torrent. Officials said there was no relief in sight.

“This whole four-mile area between here and the Mississippi is at a critical stage,” said St. Louis police Lt. Col. Ray Lauer. He said damaged roads could develop dangerous sink holes. “It is not what people want to hear, but we have bad news again.”

Police were “basically begging people” along the Des Peres to leave their homes, said Candy Green, a St. Louis city spokeswoman. Some residents, so dispirited by another round of flooding, finally decided to give up.

But others insisted they would stay in their homes, even though the city turned off their water and electricity.

Dawn and William Winslow, who live several houses from where the levee broke, could not agree on the matter. Five months pregnant and at wits’ end, Dawn Winslow sent their three children to stay with relatives and hastily packed her own bags.

“I can’t take it anymore,” she said, standing with her husband outside their single-story clapboard house. “He can do what he wants, but I’m out of here.”

William Winslow, a roofer, said he was having a difficult time leaving.

“We lose this (home), and we have lost everything,” he said, as the city called in 120 National Guard troops and four Humvees to help guard against looting. “There are all kinds of strange people pulling up in this area. Who knows what they will do if I leave.”

Down the street, Mary Mazuranic, 85, stood on her back porch, tears in her eyes, and watched the flood cascade like a waterfall down a stairway into her basement. Her son, Andrew, waded knee-deep into the back yard. He reached into the murky water and pulled an amaryllis bulb from the soil.

“Thank you, thank you, sonny,” his mother said softly. “That is a real nice plant.”

She loaded clothing and a few valuables into her son’s car. But she said she had no flood insurance and was worried about what would happen to the possessions she left behind.

Not since her husband died 20 years ago had she faced such turmoil.

“I have lost four pounds just since Sunday,” she said. “Just worrying and crying. Look at the loan I will have to take. When you only get $400 Social Security a month, it is going to be tough.”

Several doors down, some of Mazuranic’s neighbors tried to keep a sense of humor as they pumped water from their basement. A handwritten sign at the curb said: “Coming Soon: Indoor Fishing.”

Iowa

In Des Moines, the executive director of the city water plant said he would make public the names of all “water cheaters” who draw from their taps before the plant gets up to full production.

“We have 200 cases that we are investigating,” L.D. McMullen said. The cheaters, he said, risk having their water intake valves padlocked.

The water plant was swamped two weekends ago by the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. Since then, Des Moines, a city of 250,000, has been without tap water. Residents impose on out-of-town friends for showers and flush toilets--or do without.

Some use portable toilets. Hundreds line up for drinking water at nearly 100 distribution centers throughout the city.

The biggest worry, however, was fire danger.

Hydrants are dry.

McMullen had hoped to restore water early this week. But when he restarted the first of six pumps at the plant, hundreds of small businesses, apartment owners and other residents opened their faucets. They drew 500,000 gallons in an hour.

It kept pipelines from pressurizing and set back the restoration of service by at least 24 hours.

McMullen hoped to try again today.

Once water is restored, residents will have to wait another three weeks for it to be pure enough to drink.

The city faced other problems as well. Perhaps the biggest was electrical power.

Flooded substations were still under repair. Mayor John Dorrian asked downtown businesses to reduce electrical power consumption by at least 33% until Monday, when full power was expected to return.

Law enforcement officials warned about cleanup scams. The state attorney general’s office said it has received numerous complaints about door-to-door debris collectors who wanted payment before they start work.

Some Iowans, the attorney general said, have complained about fraudulent door-to-door flood relief collection efforts.

Meanwhile, farmers struggled to cope with crop losses.

In an interview, Dale Cochran, the state secretary of agriculture, said this has been the wettest growing season in 120 years. More than 1 million acres of corn and soybeans were not even planted, he said, because of unrelenting rain.

Another million acres, Cochran said, were ruined by floods.

“That’s 18% of our crop in Iowa,” he said, “a $1-billion loss in agricultural production. An early frost could double that damage.”

Other States

In Kansas, 2.3 inches of rain fell in an hour along the Kansas River. Wayne Henson, mayor of Ogden, Kan., said 250 families were evacuated from trailer homes.

Joy Moser, a spokeswoman for the Kansas National Guard, said about 2,500 people have fled their homes along the river at various times during the past nine days. Some have returned. Henson said he prefers earthquakes, where all the damage happens at once.

“Here,” he said, “it’s up and down, up and down.”

At Hamilton, Ill., the orange closed sign at the Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge was replaced with a white sign that announced: “Keokuk Bridge Open.”

A steady flow of traffic inched along at 5 miles an hour, one lane in each direction. At the Iowa end, a marquee at the Keosippi Mall greeted drivers: “Welcome back, Illinois. It’s not the Tristates without you.”

At Quincy, Ill., radio station WGEM announced that the trip from Quincy to Hannibal, Mo.--30 minutes under normal circumstances--was taking 3 1/2 hours by way of the Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge.

Levee Gives Way

In south St. Louis, the rising Mississippi forced more water into the River Des Peres, a concrete-lined drainage ditch, breaking the levee and flooding homes. Downtown St. Louis, meanwhile, was safe behind the city’s 52-foot flood wall.