Our House Was An Island

It rained a lot on the first day; it rained a lot on the second day, and on the next day, and on the day after that.

9 inches of rain fell on the St. Louis area, which meant the Mississippi River would rise.  9 inches of rain fell on central Missouri, which meant the Meramec River would rise and was not be able to empty into the swollen Mississippi River. Then the Meramec River began backing up towards the town where we live.

9 inches of rain fell on the towns of Manchester MO and Ballwin MO, which meant that Fishpot Creek would rise and was not able to empty into the swollen Meramec River.  Then Fishpot Creek began backing up towards the house where we live.

The flooding creek was eerily silent as the water crept toward us inch by inch.

But the silence of the advancing floodwater was broken by the constant buzz of news helicopters in the sky filming the scene below, as the floodwaters cut off, one by one, the three access roads to our neighborhood.

For nearly two days, our house was an island.  Our house remained dry, but we were stranded and could not drive anywhere.

There was, however, one path that remained dry and you could walk out of the neighborhood.  That path was patrolled by a Fire Department ATV, complete with a stretcher on the back, in case someone needed to be taken to higher ground to reach a hospital.

But most people used the path to walk to the neighborhood pub.

Normally, the pub is jammed with jovial people.  But now it was jammed with somber people, who silently wondered if the pub would run out of beer.

Then the pump at the local sewer station failed.  Some of our neighbors’ basements began to fill, not with floodwater, but with sewer water. The people at the pub said the failure was due to human error.  The sewer district, trying to avoid paying damages, said it was due to natural causes.

The streetscape of our subdivision became one of unsalvageable basement furniture lodged amongst black garbage bags full of wet basement stuff.

Our house remained dry.

The Mississippi River crested and receded.  The Meramec River crested and receded.  Fishpot Creek crested and receded.

Years ago, FEMA had declared that our neighborhood was not in a flood zone.  It is an oddity that insurance companies can only sell flood insurance to people who live in an official FEMA flood zone. Therefore, we had no flood insurance because we could not buy flood insurance.

The flood meant days of watching water coming toward our neighborhood, becoming stranded, hearing helicopters overhead, and wondering when the waters would crest.

For many in Missouri, the flood was a hardship.  For us, it was mostly mental strain.


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Here is a 3.5 minute video of Johnny Cash singing his flood song "Five Feet High And Rising" with the help of Biff, the Sesame Street construction worker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M2v-pkSIQY

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  Send an email to ParadiseDouglas at gmail.com to purchase a copy by mail.