European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 02, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 2, 1993 Midwest flooding the stars and stripes Page 7 fears Rise along with River in St. Louis. A. ,. /. St. Louis a the High water everyone Here had dreaded began living up to its ominous Billing sat urday after floodwaters gushed through a breached levee overrunning a suburban Airport and hundreds of businesses. This St. Louis residents feared could be just the be ginning. Rivers still had not reached their peaks and fore casters said weekend thunderstorms could dump As much As 3 inches of rain on parts of the area straining More levees. A storm saturday night brought heavy rain to Down town St. Louis and a Tornado to nearby St. Charles county it also knocked out Power thousands in the Region. The Tornado caused Only minor damage authorities said. Five other funnel Clouds were sighted but there were no reports of damage. The levees really could easily give Way in a situation like this said meteorologist Ron Przybylinski of the National weather service. Really any kind of heavy rainfall could make the situation  How bad were things so bad that even two flood re Lief concerts featuring Bob Dylan John Mellencamp and others were cancelled. Flooding closed . 40, and authorities feared 20,000 concertgoers would delay emergency workers by clogging the remaining roads. It appears to be the St. Louis area s turn again to Bear the Brunt of two months of flooding that has claimed 45 lives and caused $10 billion in damage in nine midwestern states. The second battering was expected today when crests on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers were due to collide North of the City swelling the Mississippi to its highest level Ever. In St. Louis the Mississippi was forecast to teach 49.3 feet less than 3 feet below the main flood Wall and Well above the previous record of 47.05 feet on july 20. High water from that Crest flooded hundreds of Homes in South St. Louis along the River pcs Peres which feeds the Mississippi. Authorities kept a nervous Eye on that same Are saturday because of dozens of 30,000-gallon propane tanks that floated off their moorings and threatened to rupture. Hundreds of Homes had been evacuated for fear a fireball could erupt. In suburban Chesterfield 20 Miles West of downtown St. Louis a levee broke overnight and water first began flowing through a 7-foot Hole. By morning the an aircraft sits in a sea of floodwaters at the spirit of St Louis Airport in Chesterfield mo., on saturday. Gap had grown to a staggering 75 feet. Business owners who had been frantically Pilin sandbags soon shifted their efforts to frantically pump ing water. By sunday morning under Gray thundercloud filled skies the spirit of St. Louts Airport in Chesterfield sat under As much As 11 feet of water along with dozens of Small farms and some 490 restaurants stores and Light Industrial plants. Firefighters mane Vered their boats through the per Ilous debris Laden floodwaters to reach weary people who had sought Refuge on rooftops. Other people were plucked to safety by helicopters. In All 25 to 30 people were rescued. The rest got out before the Waters were too High. No serious injuries were reported but the financial losses will be staggering. It s just devastating. I Don t know How else to say it just devastating said Tom Schnert 44, who was res cued off a roof by a boat after losing an All night Batteto keep water out of his restaurant and food store. At spirit of St. Louis one of the state s busiest air ports with a constant flow of corporate jets and private planes Only broken planes that would not Fly and Vin Tage Craft in a museum were not moved to other air Fields. Brett Affholder helped his father Bob move tractor Sand heavy equipment out of their family business a sewer rehabilitation company. The Waters Rose and the pair eventually had to take to the roof where they were rescued by a fire department boat. I was just trying to save what my father worked for All his life said Brett Affholder. That s All i was try ing to  emotional Backwash spreads debris of despair Over Region a a a a a situation a group of goats gathers on the Only High ground left to them behind one of Man flooded Homes in Lupus to. The area has been overrun by record setting floodwaters from the Missouri River. For flood of rescued Curfs every litter bit helps Glencoe to. Up animal Ber usually housed. Shelter operators said Friday that they lots of people fled their Homes Andare now using As much As 350 pounds of left their cats behind she said. We be cat Box filler daily As the number of res been out there saving them cued pet cats climbs. Believe it or not our shelter s cat Alice Dodge head of the pet search food Supply is just Fine. K. What we real animal shelter said her organization has by needed was cat Box  been rescuing 15 cats a Day and now has she added that the shelter is using be-300 living ache shelter twice the num tween 250 and 350 pounds a Day. By the los Angeles times this is limbo time in the flooded zones of the Midwest when the waiting and uncertainty erode the human spirit As surely As the Rivers ate away the levee Walls. Cigarette and alcohol consumption a cup. Tempers flare. Nightmares loom. Some people go Back each Day to their inundated Homes out cannot bring themselves to go in. Others return and cannot Bear to de part holing up in the muck and filth As health workers entreat them to leave. From the Dakotas through Iowa mis Souri and Illinois a flood victim s Day is spent figuring out which Agency is where filling out endless forms moving soggy goods or refugee livestock making excuses to  and sometimes getting fired. The dreary rounds leave hours on end free for brooding. It s just such a sense of futility said Jerry Phillippi a psychologist in mad Ison s.d., who has been on Call for the american red Cross to counsel those caught in Flash floods along the dig Sioux River and the streams that feed it. When human beings feel they re no really in control that s pretty devastating. And it s lasting so Long so much Longe than a Tornado or a  the emotional fallout May take As Longto repair As the physical damage inflicted by the floods. Judith Wells a trauma psychologist coordinating the red Cross men Tal health response in Des Moines Esti mates that the Healing process will last anywhere from six months to two years. Counselor in pcs Moines Iowa said they have noticed a pattern. Whenever you walk up to someone i just pours out Wells Saiu. They need to talk they need to vent. But the first week they needed to talk about the flood the incident what they lost. The second week they be Bee telling their life  this suggests she said that people Are beginning to recognize How Long a Dislo cation they will have to endure. They re re establishing their identity she said. They need a background to hold on  thex reactions she said arc All completely Normal in these very abnormal circumstances. Counselor report a rash of water nightmares. Insomnia also afflicts Many flood victims especially those who we reordered to evacuate in the Middle of the night. One Man said he could Drift off to sleep but every time he did he would soon Wake up covered with sweat. The sight of a ruined House evokes the strongest emotions and the strangest be Havior it seems. An elderly South Dakota couple on of Many who refused to leave the drenched wreckage that once was Home agreed to come out after being coaxed by Phillippi for 2vi hours. They would go they finally said but Only to spend their nights elsewhere. They insisted on com ing Back each morning to spend the Day amid the mildew and the Damp