Flood cleanup dragging on; expected to take months even with assistance
The water has begun to recede, but the damage left in its wake will take a long time to clean up and repair.
Homes and property in Eureka and Pacific inundated by several feet of flooding as late as Saturday are now soggy, riddled with puddles of water and strewn with debris left in the wake of receding flood waters.
The Meramec River crested late Friday and early Saturday in the two communities. Saturday morning, the hundreds of Pacific residents displaced by the flooding on the city’s south side anxiously were awaiting word on when they could return to their homes and businesses.By Monday, the cleanup was in full swing.
“We’re just trying to get some normal back again,” said Cindy Gildehaus, of Gildehaus Comfort Systems Inc., 412 S. First St. in Pacific.
Gildehaus and several employees were among the few business owners and residents at work on their buildings and houses Monday, hosing off floors and sidewalks, scrubbing walls and carpets, and trying to get rid of the smell of the river water.
After running her business out of her house and truck for several days, Gildehaus said she was hoping the building would be clean enough to move back into by week’s end.
“It’s a job, getting things cleaned up and put back together,” she said. “But we were real fortunate. It could have been a lot worse.”
While South First Street was relatively quiet on the chilly Monday morning, Pacific City Hall was hectic with activity.
“It’s chaos right now,” said Dian Becker, the city’s emergency preparedness director, pausing between phone calls, answering questions and handing out cleanup kits to residents. “People want to get back into their homes, but it’s not going to be a quick process in many cases. We want to get people back in their homes but we want to first make sure it’s safe for them to go back.”
In total, 184 homes and businesses were evacuated in Pacific, all on the city’s flood-prone south side.
In Eureka, Police Chief Michael Wiegand said there were no evacuations and no flood water got into homes or businesses. Flood water did close some roads, including Highway 109 in front of Eureka High School.
Wiegand said water also backed up into the basements of some homes, but that was from city sewers, not the flooding.
Flooding in Eureka was less than anticipated, missing the projected record-high crest feared earlier last week.
“We dodged a bullet this time,” said Eureka Mayor Kevin Coffey. “A few days ago, we were expecting to set a record, and this morning, it’s over and much better than we anticipated. Not that we still don’t have work to do, but things could have been much worse.”
The Meramec River crested at 39.5 feet early Saturday morning in Eureka and at 28.8 feet late Friday night in Pacific.
Last Wednesday, the projected crest in Eureka was 43 feet - a record-setting crest that would have impacted much more of the community. The projected crest in Pacific was 30.5 feet, six inches shy of the record crest in 1982.
Some residents living around the Eureka area, mainly in the Hoehne Springs area along Highway W in Jefferson County, evacuated earlier last week at the urging of Eureka Fire Protection District officials because of flooding along the Big and Meramec rivers.
In Pacific, residents aren’t being allowed to move back into their homes or businesses until the dwellings have been inspected and deemed safe.
City building inspectors - assisted by inspectors from Eureka, Union, New Haven and Sullivan - have been working long hours to inspect every home and business impacted by the flooding.
Once they determined a structure was safe, the property owner was given a pass to get into the building.
“We let people go in, inspect their homes, even start cleaning up if they wanted,” Pacific Mayor Herbert Adams said. “But at sunset, they’ve got to leave again. Many of these homes aren’t ready to live in, and we can’t let people move back until they are.”
Adams said each and every home in the flooded area will have to be inspected and necessary repairs made before residents can move back in. Building inspectors will put a placard on the doors of homes that have been inspected and deemed safe for occupation.
Adams planned to call an emergency meeting of the Board of Aldermen to ask board members to expedite the permit process, on a temporary basis, for people who needed home repairs.
“We want to be sure the property is safe, but beyond that basic necessity we need to use a little common sense when it comes to other repairs,” Adams said.
City employees have been working round-the-clock, Adams said, ensuring the safety of residents, clearing streets and performing inspections.
Adams said the city would commit any funds necessary to expedite the cleanup.
Dozens of volunteers have called to offer their assistance with the Pacific cleanup, including members of churches, service organizations, Scout groups, schools and businesses.
The Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific sent 40 inmates along with supervisory staff to the city to help.
“We’re prepared for situations like this,” said MECC warden Larry Rowley. “We stand together with our neighbors in Pacific and Eureka, and we will help our community recover from this event.”
MECC operations were largely unchanged during the flooding, but the prison did cancel visiting hours over the weekend.
The city also got some help over the weekend from the Missouri Highway Patrol in policing the affected part of town, but by Monday, the barricades blocking access to the south side were gone, and patrolling the area was left to local police officers.
Detective Larry Cook said one of the biggest problems Pacific police faced wasn’t as much from the threat of looters, but trying to keep away sightseers.
“We’ve had a problem with sightseers because they’re hampering the people getting back to their homes and doing what they have to do to cleanup,” Cook said. “We’re asking people, if you don’t live in the area or if you’re not here to help, stay out.”
Because St. Louis, Franklin and Jefferson counties were declared disaster areas, both Eureka and Pacific will be eligible for reimbursement of some cleanup costs through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA officials were expected in Pacific Thursday to assess the damage and the ongoing cleanup work.
“Our attention right now is safety and getting people the help they need to get home,” said City Administrator Harold Selby. “What’s making a big difference is the tremendous outpouring of help we’ve had from all over. It’s been incredible, and it’s going to help us get people back in their homes much faster.”
“So many people have made such a big difference, we can’t say thank you enough”
Clean up in the wake of a massive harsh weather outbreak that brought lofty winds, hail, heavy rain and multiple tornado warnings, moves forward in Crawford County
Crawford County Emergency Management Director Dennis Gilstrap said the storms may also bring something else: a federal disaster declaration from President Bush.
Gilstrap said he believes the state disaster declaration made last month by Gov. Mike Beebe should also cover damages from Wednesday’s storms, but said he has received no official confirmation of that.
I feel like since we declared (last month) this is just a continuing thing,” Gilstrap said. “I feel like this will add to it.”
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials toured the area earlier this month to assess damages from previous heavy rains. Gilstrap said FEMA told him the county qualified for some federal help based on a per capita dollar amount of damage, but has not been formally declared a federal disaster area.
“We feel like it will be forthcoming,” he said of a declaration, although he was unsure of a specific time frame. Gilstrap and other area officials will meet with FEMA Tuesday in Logan County to start making plans for storm clean-up.
Gilstrap compared the recent weather activity to the massive ice storm that hit in late 2000 and stretched into 2001. A federal disaster declaration was made, and he said more than 60 of the Natural State’s 75 counties were declared federal disaster areas.
“This thing’s turning into that,” he said. “Even myself at home I had windows broken out of my house; all three of my vehicles had hail damage to them.”
He said no major injuries were reported, although three residences in the county were evacuated due to floodwaters. He said no shelters were opened in the county aside from temporary “safe rooms” that are operated by local police departments and school districts.
County Judge John Hall said the county was working with FEMA to provide individual assistance to private citizens who were affected by the storms. He said ways for citizens to get help, such as a toll-free number, would be announced in the future and could include a FEMA-run outpost for citizens to apply for assistance.
Crawford County students received Thursday off after school officials decided that flooded roadways and damaged buildings made having normal classes impossible.
Van Buren Schools Assistant superintendent Lonnie Myers said the worst damage occurred at Coleman Junior High, where several skylights were shattered by the hail.
“And of course that brought in the water (and) created a lot of water damage,” Myers said.
He said the school’s heating and cooling units also suffered major damage due to the storm.
While he said he was too early to fully assess the damages done to the district’s 11 schools, he said windows were shattered at several campuses and there were flooding problems at Izard Elementary.
“Our maintenance guys are even out right now, still assessing damage at other school sites, but Coleman’s definitely the worst,” Myers said.
Safe rooms at campuses throughout the district were opened to give residents shelter. Van Buren police opened the safe rooms once bad weather appeared imminent, Myers said.
Alma Schools Deputy Superintendent David Woolly said he visited the high school’s safe room shortly after midnight Thursday and found about 30 or 35 people utilizing it.
“It worked as it’s supposed to,” Woolly said.
Woolly said Alma schools “had virtually no building damage.”
“We got very lucky on that,” he said. “We’re not in school (Thursday) because of road conditions earlier (Thursday) morning and that’s all rapidly improving.”
Myers said “in my memory, this is the most extensive (damage) we’ve had” in Van Buren, including the April 1996 tornado that tore through town.
“Ultimately (it’s) probably the most costly because of the breadth of the storm that came through,” he said. “The hail definitely hit most (or) all of our schools. … Tate (Elementary) School seems to have done the best from what I can tell so far.”
Myers said the situation could have been worse if the storms came through during school hours Wednesday.
“No children were at risk, at least at our schools,” he said. “I bet there will be very few people in Van Buren that haven’t been touched by this one.”
Gilstrap said the River Valley has suffered a lot of damage but is still doing better than many areas of the state.
“That’s one good thing about it,” he said. “We’re not catching it like the southeast part of the state is. The White River and the flooding they’re having; it’s just been continuous for them. We’ve been able to come up for a breath of air; they’ve just been continually having to sandbag.”
David Jankowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Tulsa office, said there were no confirmed tornado touch-downs as of Friday morning, However, multiple warnings were issued throughout the night Wednesday as radar showed signs of heavy cloud rotation.
The Arkansas River was at 28 feet as of Friday morning, and Jankowski said it was not expected to rise much past that level, which is 6 feet above flood stage.
Sandbagging and preparations are not unusual for the people along the River Valley “ we we’re hit pretty hard , but not as bad as some”.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Water Damage // Apr 18, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Flood cleanup dragging on; expected to take months even with assistance
The water has begun to recede, but the damage left in its wake will take a long time to clean up and repair.
Homes and property in Eureka and Pacific inundated by several feet of flooding as late as Saturday are now soggy, riddled with puddles of water and strewn with debris left in the wake of receding flood waters.
The Meramec River crested late Friday and early Saturday in the two communities. Saturday morning, the hundreds of Pacific residents displaced by the flooding on the city’s south side anxiously were awaiting word on when they could return to their homes and businesses.By Monday, the cleanup was in full swing.
“We’re just trying to get some normal back again,” said Cindy Gildehaus, of Gildehaus Comfort Systems Inc., 412 S. First St. in Pacific.
Gildehaus and several employees were among the few business owners and residents at work on their buildings and houses Monday, hosing off floors and sidewalks, scrubbing walls and carpets, and trying to get rid of the smell of the river water.
After running her business out of her house and truck for several days, Gildehaus said she was hoping the building would be clean enough to move back into by week’s end.
“It’s a job, getting things cleaned up and put back together,” she said. “But we were real fortunate. It could have been a lot worse.”
While South First Street was relatively quiet on the chilly Monday morning, Pacific City Hall was hectic with activity.
“It’s chaos right now,” said Dian Becker, the city’s emergency preparedness director, pausing between phone calls, answering questions and handing out cleanup kits to residents. “People want to get back into their homes, but it’s not going to be a quick process in many cases. We want to get people back in their homes but we want to first make sure it’s safe for them to go back.”
In total, 184 homes and businesses were evacuated in Pacific, all on the city’s flood-prone south side.
In Eureka, Police Chief Michael Wiegand said there were no evacuations and no flood water got into homes or businesses. Flood water did close some roads, including Highway 109 in front of Eureka High School.
Wiegand said water also backed up into the basements of some homes, but that was from city sewers, not the flooding.
Flooding in Eureka was less than anticipated, missing the projected record-high crest feared earlier last week.
“We dodged a bullet this time,” said Eureka Mayor Kevin Coffey. “A few days ago, we were expecting to set a record, and this morning, it’s over and much better than we anticipated. Not that we still don’t have work to do, but things could have been much worse.”
The Meramec River crested at 39.5 feet early Saturday morning in Eureka and at 28.8 feet late Friday night in Pacific.
Last Wednesday, the projected crest in Eureka was 43 feet - a record-setting crest that would have impacted much more of the community. The projected crest in Pacific was 30.5 feet, six inches shy of the record crest in 1982.
Some residents living around the Eureka area, mainly in the Hoehne Springs area along Highway W in Jefferson County, evacuated earlier last week at the urging of Eureka Fire Protection District officials because of flooding along the Big and Meramec rivers.
In Pacific, residents aren’t being allowed to move back into their homes or businesses until the dwellings have been inspected and deemed safe.
City building inspectors - assisted by inspectors from Eureka, Union, New Haven and Sullivan - have been working long hours to inspect every home and business impacted by the flooding.
Once they determined a structure was safe, the property owner was given a pass to get into the building.
“We let people go in, inspect their homes, even start cleaning up if they wanted,” Pacific Mayor Herbert Adams said. “But at sunset, they’ve got to leave again. Many of these homes aren’t ready to live in, and we can’t let people move back until they are.”
Adams said each and every home in the flooded area will have to be inspected and necessary repairs made before residents can move back in. Building inspectors will put a placard on the doors of homes that have been inspected and deemed safe for occupation.
Adams planned to call an emergency meeting of the Board of Aldermen to ask board members to expedite the permit process, on a temporary basis, for people who needed home repairs.
“We want to be sure the property is safe, but beyond that basic necessity we need to use a little common sense when it comes to other repairs,” Adams said.
City employees have been working round-the-clock, Adams said, ensuring the safety of residents, clearing streets and performing inspections.
Adams said the city would commit any funds necessary to expedite the cleanup.
Dozens of volunteers have called to offer their assistance with the Pacific cleanup, including members of churches, service organizations, Scout groups, schools and businesses.
The Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific sent 40 inmates along with supervisory staff to the city to help.
“We’re prepared for situations like this,” said MECC warden Larry Rowley. “We stand together with our neighbors in Pacific and Eureka, and we will help our community recover from this event.”
MECC operations were largely unchanged during the flooding, but the prison did cancel visiting hours over the weekend.
The city also got some help over the weekend from the Missouri Highway Patrol in policing the affected part of town, but by Monday, the barricades blocking access to the south side were gone, and patrolling the area was left to local police officers.
Detective Larry Cook said one of the biggest problems Pacific police faced wasn’t as much from the threat of looters, but trying to keep away sightseers.
“We’ve had a problem with sightseers because they’re hampering the people getting back to their homes and doing what they have to do to cleanup,” Cook said. “We’re asking people, if you don’t live in the area or if you’re not here to help, stay out.”
Because St. Louis, Franklin and Jefferson counties were declared disaster areas, both Eureka and Pacific will be eligible for reimbursement of some cleanup costs through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA officials were expected in Pacific Thursday to assess the damage and the ongoing cleanup work.
“Our attention right now is safety and getting people the help they need to get home,” said City Administrator Harold Selby. “What’s making a big difference is the tremendous outpouring of help we’ve had from all over. It’s been incredible, and it’s going to help us get people back in their homes much faster.”
“So many people have made such a big difference, we can’t say thank you enough”
2 Water Damage // Apr 18, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Restoration takes Teamwork in County
Clean up in the wake of a massive harsh weather outbreak that brought lofty winds, hail, heavy rain and multiple tornado warnings, moves forward in Crawford County
Crawford County Emergency Management Director Dennis Gilstrap said the storms may also bring something else: a federal disaster declaration from President Bush.
Gilstrap said he believes the state disaster declaration made last month by Gov. Mike Beebe should also cover damages from Wednesday’s storms, but said he has received no official confirmation of that.
I feel like since we declared (last month) this is just a continuing thing,” Gilstrap said. “I feel like this will add to it.”
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials toured the area earlier this month to assess damages from previous heavy rains. Gilstrap said FEMA told him the county qualified for some federal help based on a per capita dollar amount of damage, but has not been formally declared a federal disaster area.
“We feel like it will be forthcoming,” he said of a declaration, although he was unsure of a specific time frame. Gilstrap and other area officials will meet with FEMA Tuesday in Logan County to start making plans for storm clean-up.
Gilstrap compared the recent weather activity to the massive ice storm that hit in late 2000 and stretched into 2001. A federal disaster declaration was made, and he said more than 60 of the Natural State’s 75 counties were declared federal disaster areas.
“This thing’s turning into that,” he said. “Even myself at home I had windows broken out of my house; all three of my vehicles had hail damage to them.”
He said no major injuries were reported, although three residences in the county were evacuated due to floodwaters. He said no shelters were opened in the county aside from temporary “safe rooms” that are operated by local police departments and school districts.
County Judge John Hall said the county was working with FEMA to provide individual assistance to private citizens who were affected by the storms. He said ways for citizens to get help, such as a toll-free number, would be announced in the future and could include a FEMA-run outpost for citizens to apply for assistance.
Crawford County students received Thursday off after school officials decided that flooded roadways and damaged buildings made having normal classes impossible.
Van Buren Schools Assistant superintendent Lonnie Myers said the worst damage occurred at Coleman Junior High, where several skylights were shattered by the hail.
“And of course that brought in the water (and) created a lot of water damage,” Myers said.
He said the school’s heating and cooling units also suffered major damage due to the storm.
While he said he was too early to fully assess the damages done to the district’s 11 schools, he said windows were shattered at several campuses and there were flooding problems at Izard Elementary.
“Our maintenance guys are even out right now, still assessing damage at other school sites, but Coleman’s definitely the worst,” Myers said.
Safe rooms at campuses throughout the district were opened to give residents shelter. Van Buren police opened the safe rooms once bad weather appeared imminent, Myers said.
Alma Schools Deputy Superintendent David Woolly said he visited the high school’s safe room shortly after midnight Thursday and found about 30 or 35 people utilizing it.
“It worked as it’s supposed to,” Woolly said.
Woolly said Alma schools “had virtually no building damage.”
“We got very lucky on that,” he said. “We’re not in school (Thursday) because of road conditions earlier (Thursday) morning and that’s all rapidly improving.”
Myers said “in my memory, this is the most extensive (damage) we’ve had” in Van Buren, including the April 1996 tornado that tore through town.
“Ultimately (it’s) probably the most costly because of the breadth of the storm that came through,” he said. “The hail definitely hit most (or) all of our schools. … Tate (Elementary) School seems to have done the best from what I can tell so far.”
Myers said the situation could have been worse if the storms came through during school hours Wednesday.
“No children were at risk, at least at our schools,” he said. “I bet there will be very few people in Van Buren that haven’t been touched by this one.”
Gilstrap said the River Valley has suffered a lot of damage but is still doing better than many areas of the state.
“That’s one good thing about it,” he said. “We’re not catching it like the southeast part of the state is. The White River and the flooding they’re having; it’s just been continuous for them. We’ve been able to come up for a breath of air; they’ve just been continually having to sandbag.”
David Jankowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Tulsa office, said there were no confirmed tornado touch-downs as of Friday morning, However, multiple warnings were issued throughout the night Wednesday as radar showed signs of heavy cloud rotation.
The Arkansas River was at 28 feet as of Friday morning, and Jankowski said it was not expected to rise much past that level, which is 6 feet above flood stage.
Sandbagging and preparations are not unusual for the people along the River Valley “ we we’re hit pretty hard , but not as bad as some”.
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