13 Staggering Photos Of The Devastating Flood Missourians Will Never Forget
By Liz Oliver|Published May 07, 2017
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Liz Oliver
Author
Liz is a Missouri native with a B.A. in English from Mizzou and a M.A. in Non-Profit Administration from Lindenwood University. She works for a STL metro-area community college and enjoys writing, traveling, and indoor cycling. Her true passion is forcing her encyclopedic knowledge of Missouri facts on uninterested strangers from across the globe!
Across the state of Missouri, residents are preparing for another record breaking flooding event. Rivers and creeks are well above their banks with crest levels still rising. The rising water levels are nothing new for Missourians, but certainly all this water brings back memories of the worst flood in recent history. The Great Flood of 1993 lasted, in some places, over 100 days and was one of the most devastating natural disasters to occur in the state. No Missourian alive during the 1993 flood will ever forget the rising waters and costly aftermath.
In 1992, above average rains set the stage for the Great Flood of 1993. The rain began to fall and river levels began to rise in South Dakota. Multiple tributary rivers north of the Mississippi began to flood. These waters moved downstream and a chain reaction was ignited.
Many Missourians believed the threat of flooding had passed by mid-June but heavy July rains brought the threat closer. Sandbagging efforts began as residents and business owners worked to save their properties.
Military, Missouri State Police, and other emergency management agencies were sent to flooded regions to help residents. 27 people died as a direct result from the flooding. 21 of those deaths were drownings.
St. Louis was spared from disastrous flooding by their levee. The concrete barrier kept the floodwaters at bay with just two feet to spare. On August 1st, the Mississippi crested at 49.6 feet.
The economic affect was catastrophic. With roads closed across the state and floodwaters filling entire towns, business owners were suffering. The Mississippi was shut off to barge traffic for months. Nearly 2 million dollars was lost daily from the loss of shipping on the Mississippi.
In all, over 100,000 homes were destroyed. Entire towns were flooded. The entire town of Rhineland, which sat on the Missouri River, was eventually relocated to higher ground.
Nearly 12 million dollars in personal property losses were estimated. Government assistant agencies worked with thousands of businesses to help them relocate or refurbish their establishments after the waters receded.
Farmers, especially ones with land in designated flood plains, saw extensive losses. Ecological studies of the flooding event found that over 455,000 of Missouri farmland were ruined by flood waters that year.
However, Missouri residents still found bright spots during the hardship. Communities worked together to save what they could and restore what was left.
Missourians moved on, cleaned up, and got back to life as normal. The water receded but every spring the waters threaten to rise again. Like Mark Twain said, "The Mississippi River will always have its own way."
Another State of Emergency was declared for the current flooding in Missouri but it seems tame compared to the disaster in 1993. Were you affected by the Great Flood of 1993? Share your memories of the rising water and its aftermath in the comments.
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