St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 4

Monday, august 2, 1993 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 3 AUG 2 1993 7A THE FLOOD OF '93 Crushed Rock Bolsters McKinley Bridge To Offer Help Area Of Evacuation wall 10 days ago, and workers plugged the leak after several days of work. The 11-mile wall extends from Riverview to just south of Cherokee Street. Although it is described as a 52-foot flood wall, the corps said Sunday that the wall was built to 54 feet to handle the river at 52 feet plus splashing. On the south end of the city, police officers and firefighters went door to door Sunday for the fourth time to advise people to flee.

Many already had done so, and more families left Sunday. A few refused and stayed in houses with flooded basements and no gas or electricity. "We haven't forced anyone out," said Fire Chief Neil Svetanics. "But we have problems all along those levees." Elsewhere in the city: A shelter run by the American Red Cross at Blow Middle School, 5165 Loughborough Avenue, caught a wave of displaced people over the weekend. The shelter had been getting about 20 people a night until Friday, when 110 people took refuge many because of the danger from dislodged propane tanks nearby.

MSD was operating pumps along the River Des Peres to move water out of flooded sewers in the neighborhood and back into the river. But MSD turned off the pumps after water coming over the levees and up the sewers flooded them. Engineers directed the drilling of 57 holes in the bridge carrying Gravois over the River Des Peres. The drilling was ordered because the concrete deck of the bridge had air spaces built, into it, and the engineers feared that water pressure below the bridge could have lifted the bridge off its moorings. The holes in the deck were aimed at relieving that pressure.

Svetanics said several businesses along the Mississippi had lost propane and chemical tanks to the flood. The tanks were floating, but none was presenting an immediate threat, he said. Daniel R. Browning of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed information for this story. I I 1 J' yXftSn Propane Tanks A CEMETERYh.

'Mr? Area Of Detail EpfiMll I Ny Post-Dispatch Map by Arne Thorbjornson By Donald Berns Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Thousands of tons of crushed rock strengthened a dirt levee under the McKinley Bridge at St. Louis Sunday, with experts calculating that more rock was needed to protect against the Mississippi River's crest. The worst flooding in the city was along the River Des Peres, where layers of saturated, leaking sandbags topped a 43-foot levee, bringing the barrier in many places to 50 feet. At the McKinley Bridge, work crews turned their attention to the trouble spot when earth around sewer lines washed away. The Metropolitan St.

Louis Sewer District tried to repair the lines some as large as 5 feet in diameter but was hampered last week when the river level rose above where crews were digging inside the levee. City crews dumped 9,000 tons of The pile was about 12 feet deep on the river side of the levee. Workers dumped more rock on the land side near MSD's Salisbury pumping The Army Corps of Engineers said as mUch as 4,000 tons more was needed to stabi-lizethe levee and fill in low areas near the pumping station. "We don't want this levee to fail," said Ed Demsky of the corps. "The businesses in this area are very interested in what we're doing." largest business there is Mallinckrodt Chemical just south of where the rocks were being dumped.

"The dirt levee near the foot of Salisbury Street interrupts the 11-mile flood wall protecting part of St. Louis. When the wall was built in 1966, the levee near the McKinley Bridge already was there and was not removed. The flood wall was being checked continuously by helicopter and on foot by crews from the corps, the city and MSD. 'We're looking for water coming out of the ground," said Demsky.

Farther north, the flood wall got remedial work last week at the foot of Chain of Rocks Road. Water washed out the ground under the Rivers From page one 54 feet by its patched-up flood wall. The 11-mile wall was under intense scrutiny Sunday, as crews from the corps, the city and Metropolitan Sewer District watched it from helicopter and oil foot. 'You're looking for water coming out of the ground," said Ed Demsky of the corps. The river' had cut beneath the wall 11 days ago, carving out a gaping hole that was later plugged.

The wall is described as a 52-foot flood wall, but the corps says it is built to 54 feet to handle the river at 52 feet plus splashing. But flood levels of 50 feet or better would mean; disaster along the River Des Peres, where residents got a burst of false hope Sunday. The river dropped nearly 9 inches after the Columbia levee break, but coon was rising as much as an inch an hour. "The River Des Peres levee is in bad trouble," Dyhouse said. "We would think agricultural levees downriver are going to fail.

And Arnold, Kimmswick, Ste. Genevieve, we're up to the top of those levees with these crest projections." Authorities went door to door Sunday, pleading with residents along threatened areas of the River Des Peres to get out. At some homes, it was the fourth time residents were asked to evacuate. "We're begging them to leave," said Fire Chief Neil Svetanics. "The water's coming down the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Illinois, and it's all coming together in St.

Louis. "Our backs are to the wall." Many areas along the River Des Peres looked as if the levee already had failed because Alton From page one customers must drink bottled water and flush the toilet only twice daily, using stored water. Alton has been under a boil order for about two weeks. In downtown Alton, the river breached the sandbag levee in the 200 block of Piasa Street about 5 a.m., when it crept underneath it. The pressure of the water buckled several streets and a and sent up to eight feet of water into the businesses, which are four blocks from the Great River Road.

"The water just came through the ground, bubbling up through the street, and the streets were buckling right before your very eyes," said Paul Ventimiglia, who manages his grandfather's now-flooded Tony's Restaurant on Piasa Street. "It was going up about a half foot an hour, and it's still going." Mark Hook, the manager of the flooded Time Out Lounge, was standing on Piasa Street when the ground began rumbling. "I was talking eye to eye with this guy, and in five seconds I grew about a foot," Hook said. "At that point I was standing in ankle-deep water from the pressure underground oozing through the cracks." The three hospitals in Alton lost water service Sunday: Alton Memorial, Saint Clare's and St. Anthony's.

The hospital's employees quickly implemented their emergency water i plans, which call for trucking in water and using old bath water to flush toilets. The hospitals set up portable toilets for staff. 'Many businesses continued to operate using bottled water. The city is giving away drinking water at three places: Alton Square. Central Hardware.

The parking lot of the Southern Illinois University Dental School. Kelly Alton MUMuujy At the have spokesman One optimistic. "I'm House, Cleaners I can't Many Black of surprise. and To volunteer Call these agencies to help in various ways: Operation Food Search: 569-0053. Salvation Army Opera-: -tion Noah's Ark: (800) 935- 6639.

American Red Cross: 997-8973. St. Louis Emergency Management Agency: 622-' 3501. St. Louis County Emer'-! gency Management Agency: 638-8533, 638-5462 or 638-' 5148.

St. Charles County Emergency Management Agency: 949-3023. Jefferson County Red Cross shelter: 937-2495. Calhoun County Sher- iff Department: 576-9341 -or 576-2417. Grafton City Hall: 786- 2210.

Illinois: (800) 650-CARE. To donate money: Send donations to help flood vie-; tims to: Salvation Army 3800 Lindell Boulevard St. Louis, Mo. 63108 American Red Cross P.O. Box 790059 St.

Louis, Mo. 63179-0059. Jewish Federation of St -Louis 12 Millstone Campus Drive St. Louis, Mo. 63146 Catholic Charities USA Disaster Response Midwestern Relief Processing Center 13331 Pennsylvania Ave.

-Hagerstown, Md. 21742 I B'nai B'rith Flood Relief Fund 2222 Schuetz Road No. 116! St. Louis, Mo. 63146 To donate food: Take food to the Olivette Center of Op-; eration Food Search at 9657 Dielman Rock Island Drive.

The center is open 7:30 a.m: to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. You also can drop food-off at Six Flags, Clark service stations, Valvoline Instant Oil Change or Gundaker Real- tors. For more information, call 569-0053. The St.

Louis Area Food Bank will coordinate food drives. For information, call Frank Finnegan at 383-3335. To Get Help For immediate help: Call your local police department or: American Red Cross: (800) 930-4357. Salvation Army: (800) 935-6639. St.

Louis Emergency Management Agency: 622-3501. St. Louis County Emergency Management Agency: 638-8533, 638-5462 or 638-5148. St. Charles County Emergency Management Agency: 949-3023 or 949-7350.

Jefferson County: 789-5381. St. Charles emergency operations center: 949-3295. Calhoun County Sheriff's Department: 576-9341 or 576-2417. Grafton City Hall: 786-2210.

To find out if you should get shots, call: St. Louis immunization unit: 658-1064, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. St. Louis County immunization unit: 854-6630, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

weekdays. St. Clair County Health Department: (618) 233-7703, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays. Free pet vaccinations for families with pets in flooded areas will be avail- -able 2-5 p.m.

today at the Humane Society of Missouri's shelter, 1210 Mackland Avenue, or its branch, 2400 Drilling Service Drive, in Maryland Heights. Information: 647-8800. For road closing information, call: St. Louis County De- partment of Highways and Traffic, 854-6560. Auto Club of Missouri, 523-7350.

To find Illinois disaster centers: Applicants may register by visiting or by calling (800) 462-9029 or, for the hearing-or speech-impaired, (800) 462-7585. Illinois also operates a disaster information hot line, (800) 820-1125, from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., seven days a week. Housing aid is available. These centers are open 10a.m.-7 p.m. Alton: Alton High School, 2200 College Avenue.

Quincy: Baldwin Intermediate School, 3301 Main Street. his highway department truck. He was changing the tire when a car driven by a 21-year-old man from St. Louis hit him, the Highway Patrol said. The man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

In Search Of Higher Ground Elsewhere: In Chesterfield Valley, many of the 500 businesses that a levee break on the Missouri shut down searched for new quarters. Larry Lipsitz, owner of a wholesale camera business, said: "I hope the businesses in the valley get together and get a levee like they have in Earth City. We need a levee that's good for a 500-year flood." At St. Charles, the Missouri was predicted to crest at 39.5 feet overnight. The river had crept over several areas of the Hawning Road levee, flooding homes and business in the Frenchtown area just north of the city.

A quarry once proposed as a landfill also had a waterfall spilling into it. In south St. Louis, divers worked to stabilize a potentially explosive situation. Fifty propane tanks had dislodged and were floating in floodwater, connected only by piping. Sen; Christopher S.

Bond, offered a one-word assessment of the situation in the state "awful." Bond said he had been told the water will wipe out crops on flooded fields this year and could eliminate next year's harvest, too. "If it brings in sand instead of silt, it won't support crops," he said. In Jefferson City, the head of the state highway department echoed Bond's sentiments. Wayne Muri said flood damage to the state's road system is into the millions of dollars with the meter running. "I'm not sure where to start," said Muri.

"We have a lot of heavy damage." In Ste. Genevieve, the Valle Spring Branch levee broke south of town, spilling wa -J. of seepage. The Metropolitan Sewer District had been pumping the water out, but those pumps failed. River Rolls Out To Bluffs If anyone needed reason to heed the evacuation warning, local television stations offered it hourly.

Television helicopters patrolling the levees in Illinois captured the Mississippi's chilling power in the break at Columbia. Their footage showed the river carrying away a farmhouse, which disintegrated in the floodwater. Virgil Gummersheimer owned that home. He was standing knee-deep in water sandbagging when the levee gave way and the Mississippi reclaimed its flood plain, taking his home with it. "The water came in, hit the grain bins, and the house started moving," said Gummersheimer.

"The river took back what was his." The Fountain Creek levee stood between the floodwater and the town of Valmeyer to the south, and the water lapped the top of that levee. The creek actually has levees on both sides, and crews were adding rock and sandbags to raise the south levee to at least 51 feet. Some 65 homeowners in the Columbia Bottoms area had fled Saturday night, and the homes were empty when the river swirled in, stopping only after it hit the bluffs to the east. No lives were lost in that area, but a highway worker was killed in St. Louis County when he was struck by a car after he worked on a highway sign that warned of a flooded-out road.

The employee, John W. Smith of Pevely, had just finished working on a flashing highway sign on the northbound shoulder of Interstate 270 at Clayton Road in Town and County when he was killed. The sign warns motorists that U.S. 40 is closed. Smith, 34, had discovered a tire was flat on Brown filling one of the many jugs she Square shopping center.

Floodwater cut I St. mmm ly mm ter onto St. Mary's Road and into St. Jude Acres subdivision. About 50" homes and businesses were evacuated.

The break threatened two historic homes, the Bequette-Ribault house and the Amoureaux house. At Prairie du Rocher, 111., the levee that protected 45,000 acres of bottomland farms from Prairie du Rocher 25 miles north to Valmeyer stood, but on wobbly legs. "We're holding, and hoping for the best," said Matt Hunn of the corps. "But if we hit 51 feet, it's not looking too good." Alton joined two other Illinois towns, Hardin and Grafton, in losing its drinking water. The water plant and 12 businesses were flooded when water pushed beneath a buckled street and into low-lying parts of downtown.

In Hardin, a levee protecting the town's water plant gave way. Workers were trying to repair the levee so that floodwater could be pumped out and service restored. In waterlogged Grafton, Mayor Gerald Nairn said his town's water plant was pumping river water spiked with a heavy dose of chlorine. Residents were warned to use the water only for bathing and flushing toilets. And in La Grange in northern Missouri, residents found that when the flooding recedes, the work begins.

Police Chief James Tarpen said many businesses and homes may be too far gone to repair. When the town rebuilds, it will be on higher ground, said the chief. "We're making plans to try to shift to higher levels, because we know it will happen again sooner or later no matter what the Army Corps says," he said. The Associated Press and Tim Bryant, Daniel R. Browning, Phil Linsalata, Margaret Gil-lerman, Jim Gallagher, Phyllis Brasch Librach and Lou Rose, all of the Post-Dispatch, provided information for this article.

Clergy Gives Word: God's Not To Blame By Dana Fields Of The Associated Press HOLT'S SUMMIT, Mo. Though their homes may be submerged, their lives disrupted, the Rev. Myron Couch wanted his parishioners to know: God does not use floods to send messages. "God doesn't prevent bad things from happening to people," the Baptist preacher told both his congregations as they gathered together. "But God is with us in everything we experience." All over central Missouri, the Sunday morning airwaves carried similar messages of reassurance.

The message is one that Couch believed the faithful from his congregation in nearby Cedar City especially needed to hear. He could not go to them; their church is full of water. Cedar City lies on bottomland across the Missouri River from Jefferson City. Couch's flock in Holt's Summit is working to build a church, so both his congregations gathered in a local Lions Club building. The two dozen people heard Couch read from John 7:25 about "streams of living water" which the minister said was planned long before the floods and sang hymns, accompanied by a portable electronic keyboard.

The men were in their suits, the women in dresses even the worshipers from Cedar City. For Beverly Coots of Cedar City, there was no question about coming to church. "It lifts your spirits to know the Lord is with you," she said. "It shows you that material things can be taken away from you and it's not that bad, because the Lord will provide." -ftv Odell Mitchell Jr.Post-Dispatch brought Sunday to a water-distribution center at Alton's water supply Sunday. laugh.

"I was thinking: 'What the Now I feel grungy." Residents busily stocked up on water Sunday. John and Susie Siatos of Alton had plans to get a 500-gallon tank from John Siatos' father's farm. In the meantime, John Siatos will be taking showers at work. While others scurried to find water, dozens of downtown businesses are up to their elbows in water. Dick and Dot Strack waded waist-deep in the muddy water to salvage what they could from their florist shop.

"The unfortunate thing is hardly anyone here has flood insurance," Dot Strack said. Arthur Towata watched as his fine arts gallery on West Third Street filled with water. "We've really fought it off until today but there's a point when we have to draw back and let mother nature take its course," Towata said. "But after all this, I haven't heard a single merchant down here say, 'I give Alton Belle Casino, customers streamed in. "We're open and hundreds on board," said John Reichert.

business owner wasn't as out of business," said Dean owner of Alton One-Hour downtown. "Without water, run any of my equipment." residents, such as David north Alton, were caught by "I was one leg in the shower one leg out," Black said with a.