After days of deluge, the rain has stopped in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area but repercussions remain.
Arnold preparing for evacuations
Arnold, at the confluence of the Meramec and Mississippi rivers, is preparing for evacuations.
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Meramec River was at 39.3 feet and is expected to crest at 46.1 feet Thursday, then fall below 40 feet by Jan. 2.
Arnold Police Capt. Robert Ruckman recommended residents should evacuate affected areas. He said evacuations will be required once electric and gas services are disconnected at flooded homes.
Ruckman said First Baptist Church of Arnold, 2012 Missouri State Road, is open as an emergency shelter. The Humane Society of Missouri will have a mobile kennel located at the church for displaced animals.
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He said command centers have been set up at 501 Jeffco Boulevard and in the Bayshore Subdivision.Â
Cops sandbag to save Valley Park precinct
ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police packed up their desks, evidence, guns, computer equipment and other items from the Valley Park precinct Tuesday in an unexpected move to the Emergency Operations Center as flood waters encroached upon their station.
Volunteers from the community and passersby have stopped to help on- and off-duty officers pack sandbags in the parking lot of the building at 232 Vance Road since about 4 p.m. Water backing up from the Meramec River was about 15 feet away from the building, according to Lt. Karl Bulla.
I-44 expected to be closed
A portion of Interstate 44 just west of Highway 141 in the Fenton and Valley Park area could close as early as 6 a.m. Wednesday due to Meramec River flooding, said Tom Blair, Missouri Department of Transportation assistant district engineer for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area.
That portion of road, around mile marker 272, could stay closed through Friday morning, although timelines are hard to pin down.
"Nobody knows how quickly the water is going to recede," Blair said.
About 100,000 vehicles go through that area each day, although traffic is lighter this time of year.
Several hundred other roads in the area were also closed. In the Metro East, Interstate 70 was closed between mile markers 36 and 41 in Bond County, near Pocahontas.
Inmates at Menard moved
Officials have begun transferring some inmates from a Southern Illinois prison to other locations because of flooding.
Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Nicole Wilson says the maximum security Menard Correctional Center near Chester has had "minor flooding" in some cells. The prison remains on lockdown and visits have been suspended. The main road leading to the prison remains closed from flooding.
The facility houses nearly 3,700 inmates. State officials did not indicate how many inmates were forced to relocate.
National Guard activated
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon activated the Missouri National Guard on Tuesday to provide security in evacuated areas and direct traffic at the hundreds of road closures in the state.
“As rivers rise to record levels, we are continuing to support Missouri communities and protect public safety during this historic flooding event,†Nixon said in a statement. “These citizen soldiers will provide much-needed support to state and local first responders, many of whom have spent the last several days working around the clock responding to record rainfall and flooding.â€
Nixon again called for drivers to be careful, saying 12 of 13 flood-related deaths in the state involved people in vehicles that were swept from flooded roads. He warned motorists not to drive around barricades or onto roads with standing water.
'Unprecedented' flooding in Franklin County
Presiding Franklin County Commissioner John Griesheimer said Tuesday that flooding there, particularly in Union, is "unprecedented for our history."
He said the Bourbeuse, Meramec and Missouri rivers are at high levels and smaller creeks and rivers are also bloated. Dozens of roadways are closed, including U.S. Highway 50 and Route 47 in Union. Â Â
He said Union seems to be Ground Zero for the flooding in Franklin County.
West Alton flooding, residents told to evacuate
Authorities on Tuesday morning directed West Alton residents to immediately evacuate as climbing water threatens routes out of town.
Richard Pender, chief of the Rivers Pointe Fire Protection District, said flood water is starting to affect one of the two escape routes for the community — St. Charles Street at Highway 67 — and the road is expected to be inaccessible in a few hours. He said another route still will be open.
He said the evacuation is not mandatory. Pender said because the low-lying community is often affected by high water, about a quarter of residents have raised their homes above 1993 flood levels and he isn't ordering those people out.
Sandbagging in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, elsewhere
Mayor Francis Slay asked for volunteers to fill sandbags Tuesday morning, and they arrived in droves, before sunup, and worked at a steady pace in near-freezing temperatures.
The city was trying to fill 20,000 sand bags for an area along the River Des Peres.
Meanwhile, Sunset Hills was calling for help filling sandbags at West Walton and Weber Hill Roads on Tuesday.
And Fenton is trying to find sand to fill bags.Â
Sewage flowing into Meramec
Untreated sewage has been flowing into the Meramec River since Monday night — and maybe for awhile longer — because of a flood-related malfunction at the treatment plant in Fenton.
Sean Hadley, a spokesman for the Metropolitan ºüÀêÊÓƵ Sewer District, said floodwaters apparently overran the control room at the wastewater treatment plant sometime on Monday night. The problem was discovered at about 8 p.m. Monday.
"It's going to be quite some time" before it's fixed, he said. "We're still trying to get the water out of the plant, to fix the issue."
Mississippi River closed to traffic
Citing high water and fast currents, the U.S. Coast Guard closed a portion of the Mississippi River near ºüÀêÊÓƵ to barge traffic.
The Coast Guard decided to close the river at around 11 p.m. Monday night, a spokesman said. The closure stretches from just north of the Merchants railroad bridge south past the Poplar Street Bridge to the MacArthur railroad bridge.
River stages and forecast
Location | Height | Crest forecast | Crest date | Flood stage | Record crest | Record date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mississippi River | ||||||
Hannibal | 22.1 | 22.3 | Tues. p.m. | 16 | 31.8 | 7/16/1993 |
Louisiana | 21.3 | 21.7 | Wed. a.m. | 15 | 28.4 | 7/28/1993 |
Grafton | 29.2 | 31.3 | Wed. p.m. | 18 | 38.2 | 8/1/1993 |
Mel Price L&D TW | 33.4 | 38 | Thur. a.m. | 21 | 42.7 | 8/1/1993 |
ºüÀêÊÓƵ | 39 | 43.7 | Thur. p.m. | 30 | 49.58 | 8/1/1993 |
Chester | 39.9 | 49.7 | Fri. a.m. | 27 | 49.7 | 8/7/1993 |
Cape Girardeau | 42.1 | 48.5 | Sat. p.m. | 32 | 47.9 | 8/8/1993 |
Missouri River | ||||||
Hermann | 34.8 | 34.8 | Tue. | 21 | 36.3 | 7/31/1993 |
St. Charles | 34.2 | 35.2 | Wed. p.m. | 25 | 39.6 | 8/2/1993 |
Meramec River | ||||||
Sullivan | 31.4 | 11 | 32.3 | 12/4/1982 | ||
Union - Bourbeuse R. | 34 | 34.5 | Tue. p.m. | 15 | 33.8 | 12/5/1982 |
Pacific | 27 | 35.7 | Wed. p.m. | 15 | 30.8 | 12/5/1982 |
Eureka | 36.4 | 46.2 | Wed. p.m. | 18 | 42.89 | 12/6/1982 |
Byrnesville - Big R. | 25.8 | 27.6 | Wed. a.m. | 16 | 30.2 | 8/21/1915 |
Valley Park | 30.6 | 42 | Thur. a.m. | 16 | 39.7 | 12/6/1982 |
Arnold | 38.3 | 46.1 | Thur. a.m. | 24 | 45.3 | 8/1/1993 |