Nation's storms bring rising rivers and snow
DUTCHTOWN, Mo. (AP) - March 21, 2008 Along the Meramec River in eastern Missouri, residents of Valley
Park hoped the town's $49 million earthen levee, built in 2005 to
withstand a 100-year flood, would pass its first big test. The
surging Meramec was expected to crest at a record 40 feet on
Saturday - 24 feet above flood stage.
The Army Corps of Engineers and Missouri Public Safety said the
levee was in good shape, but some residents decided to leave for
higher ground just in case.
"The biggest thing is not knowing what to expect," said Donna
Gerstein-Russell, who moved to the area in January.
Heavy snow fell or was expected from Minnesota to Ohio.
Milwaukee got 14 inches Friday and 10 inches fell in Red Wing,
Minn.
The timing of the storm was disappointing for dozens of
Wisconsin church officials who decided to cancel Good Friday
services.
"It was a hard decision but for the safety of everybody,
especially of the elderly, we think it was prudent to make this
decision," said the Rev. Jonathan Jacobs of Ascension Lutheran
Church in Milwaukee. "Most people are grateful - they say they
would have been torn otherwise."
Snow forced the cancellation of about 400 flights and delayed
numerous others at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Northern Ohio residents prepared for an expected 3 to 6 inches
of snow, while flood victims in the southern parts of the state
began the arduous task of cleaning up after some of the heaviest
rain in years.
A blizzard warning remained in effect in northern Maine, where
fierce winds scattered snow, uprooted trees and brought down power
lines.
"Even though it was spring yesterday, we still have winter on
our doorstep," spokeswoman Ginny Joles of Maine Public Service
Co., northern Maine's major electric company, said Friday.
Parts of the Midwest got a foot of rain over a 36-hour period
this week, causing widespread flash flooding. The worst flooding
happened in smaller rivers across the nation's midsection. Major
channels such as the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers saw only
minor flooding.
In Arkansas, residents of the tiny prairie community of
Georgetown along the White River were warned to leave the area
Friday after forecasters said a backwater slough would cut off
access by late evening and leave them stranded well into next week.
"Stock up or get out. You may be there a few days," said Steve
Bays, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service at North
Little Rock.
Georgetown Fire Chief Eddie Stephenson said about half the
town's 126 residents were getting out, but he played down any
danger.
"I've been here all my life. We've been through this for years
and years and years. It don't get us excited. We just take it as it
goes," said the 65-year-old Stephenson, who also is a city
councilman.
Rivers receded Friday in Ohio, but several areas remained under
flood warnings. About 60 state roads were closed or partly blocked
by flooding; crews were trying to pump water off a major route into
Columbus, according to the State Highway Patrol.
In Missouri, eyes were on the levee in Park Valley. With nearly
one-third of the town's 6,500 residents at risk if the levee breaks
or is overtopped, authorities were taking no chances. They set up a
staging area full of rescue trucks and a boat in a school parking
lot near the town, said Chesterfield Fire Department Capt. Steve
Smith.
"They were a little uneasy about the levee, if it was going to
hang in there or not," Smith said.
Army Corps of Engineers spokesman George Stringham said some
water had seeped through the levee, but the leakage was not unusual
and posed no danger to the levee's structural integrity. He said
the Corps expects the levee to hold throughout the weekend as flood
waters are expected to crest at 40 feet, which is below the top of
the levee.
"We're 100 percent confident with how it's working out out
there," Stringham said.
Maj. Byron Medloch of the Salvation Army said that 1,000 people
displaced by the Meramec were housed in shelters. Another 1,000 had
been in shelters near Poplar Bluff in far southeast Missouri, where
the surging Black River breached several levees, though Medloch
said many began returning home on Friday.
"People are tired," Medloch said. "Tired of fighting and
tired of waiting."
Dutchtown residents picked through belongings and pumped water
from flooded homes a day after the small town was evacuated and
covered by 3 feet of water.
In Fenton, a St. Louis suburb, dozens of volunteers filled
sandbags and piled them against downtown businesses near the
fast-rising Meramec, which was expected to reach more than 20 feet
above flood stage in some spots.
"The river is continuing to come up," Mayor Dennis Hancock
said. "It continues to come up rapidly."
Government forecasters warned that some flooding could continue
in the coming days because of record rainfall and melting snow pack
across much of the Midwest and Northeast.
At least 16 deaths have been linked to the weather over the past
few days, and at least two people whose vehicles were swept away by
rushing water Tuesday were still missing in Arkansas.
---
Associated Press writers Betsy Taylor in Eureka and Kelly P.
Kissel in Little Rock, Ark. contributed to this report.