The 1993 Flood - 20 Years Later

August 14, 2013

A look back at the areas affected by the 1993 flood.

Laura Simon, Southeast Missourian file photos and submitted

Published Aug. 9, 1993 Although the Mississippi River crested Sunday at 47.9 feet (later revised to 48.49 feet), Tom LeGrand and family members lost the fight to save their business, LeGrand's Transmission, and family home at 1237 N. Water St. A leak developed late Saturday and after a 10 1/2-hour fight, an exhausted family gave up. Water is now four feet deep in the house and five feet deep in the garage. (Missourian archive photo by Melina A. Mara)

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Alan Wright has seen plenty of floods during a lifetime living in Commerce. But heŐs one of just a few who have stayed to put up with them. Wright owns one of the only businesses still left in Commerce, WrightŐs Auto Repair. A former member of the town board, he remembers well the feeling of residents who did not want to sell their properties to the federal government in 1993 for the fear their community would never recover. He was on their side when their fears were realized, he said. ŇYou couldnŐt ever do nothing with it,Ó Wright said of the residentsŐ opposition toward buying out of properties. ŇSo even if we had people back then who hadnŐt moved away, and there was some miracle and a levee was built, I doubt we could ever do anything now.Ó Wright admits Commerce is a place that has seen much better days. ŇItŐs been a drastic change since that big flood,Ó he said. ŇBefore and for a little while after we had a little store, pool hall and tavern. ThereŐs not enough people here now to support any of that.Ó

Published July 26, 1993 Mississippi River floodwaters approach the town of McBride, Mo., situated about six miles north of Perryville, Mo., Sunday afternoon. Already surrounded is the Gilster-Mary Lee plant. McBride was under water about an hour after the photo was taken. (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

Published July 26, 1993 Mississippi River floodwaters flow through a 1,000-foot breach in the Bois Brule levee, to the left, looking north, about eight miles from McBride, Mo., and 11 miles south of the Chester (Ill.) Bridge, Sunday afternoon. About 28,000 acres of land are affected. McBride is under water. (Missourian archive photo by Fred Lynch)

Photo Courtesy of Nathan Ernst McBride, Mo. as seen the summer of 1993.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com McBride, Mo. as seen Friday, Aug. 9, 2013.

Photo Courtesy of Nathan Ernst McBride, Mo. as seen the summer of 1993.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com McBride, Mo. as seen Friday, Aug. 9, 2013.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Alan Huber, a farmer who lives in the Bois Brule Bottoms, has stories of the Ô93 flood to share from start to finish. Photos of Huber and his friends and family fighting the flood showed up in the New York Times and National Geographic. His younger brother helped rescue a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that nearly washed away when the levee he was standing on gave way beneath him, leading to a flood of more than 26,000 acres. He and several friends watched as muddy water took over the white carpet in the first floor of his grandmotherŐs house, never imagining that 19 inches of water would later stand in the second floor. And he recalled retrieving sunburned pigs by boat for days. The only way the animals survived were by clinging to trees. A phrase Huber repeats often as he talks about the flood: ŇYep. It was a quite a deal.Ó Once the water receded, months into the fall of 1993, buildings were left in a mess of mud, corn stalks and cans of frosting from Gilster-Mary Lee. Huber said he is wary of flooding that occurs in years that end with a certain number. ŇItŐs always been a year that ends in 3,Ó he said. There was Ô43, Ô53, Ô73 and Ô93. You tell me thereŐs not something to that.Ó

Photo Courtesy of Nathan Ernst McBride, Mo. as seen the summer of 1993.

Published July 14, 1993 Atop his former general store in Commerce, Mo., David Canady looks out over what is Washington Street when the Mississippi river is much lower. Floodwaters have surrounded the town's post office, at left. Postal operations have been moved to the Commerce Baptist Church at the edge of town on Route E. Flooding has affected about half of the homes in Commerce. (Missourian archive photograph by Fred Lynch)

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com McBride, Mo. as seen Friday, Aug. 9, 2013.

Photo Courtesy of Nathan Ernst McBride, Mo. as seen the summer of 1993.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Nathan Ernst, operator of Ernst Service Station and Machine Shop, was a junior in high school when the Bois Brule Bottoms were flooded by a levee break around 2 a.m. on July 25, 1993. He remembers that the water took about 14 hours to begin flooding the small farming community of McBride. Knowing the flood was coming, all residents could do was Ňhurry up and wait,Ó he said. ŇIt was slow, like somebody went and left on a garden hose,Ó Ernst said of floodwaters that encroached the town. Despite damage to the shop and service station once owned and operated by his grandfather and father before him, the family wasnŐt willing to give up living and working in the Bois Brule Bottoms. A high watermark, over 15 feet off the ground, is still visible today on the underside of an awning attached to the shop. Many residents, following the sandbagging and other flood-fighting efforts in July 1993 and the months following, Ernst said, would gather for Ňbeer parties,Ó to help keep their spirits up while facing the unknown. Many had spent their day transporting sandbags into McBride with a borrowed tugboat and barge. ŇThere was a lot done, but also there was only so much you could really do,Ó Ernst said. ŇYou knew you might lose everything no matter what.Ó

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com The Red Star neighborhood of Cape Girardeau as seen Monday, Aug. 12, 2013.

Published Aug. 10, 1993 Coast Guard Petty Officer Mike Sanders, left, and Petty Officer Tommy Wright, both of the Chattanooga, Tenn., Coast Guard Resere Unit, escort Cape Girardeau County Health Department administrator Charlotte Craig and Howard Courtney, Cape County Health Department environmental sanitarian, Monday in Red Star District. They were checking with residents who might have health concerns because of flooding. (Missourian archive photo by Don Shrubshell)

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com The Red Star neighborhood of Cape Girardeau as seen Monday, Aug. 12, 2013.

Published Aug. 6, 1993 Bryan Hartis of 1401 Water St., in the Red Star district, pumps water out of his sandbag-protected home on Thursday, along with other members of the community who are fighting to keep the floodwaters from damaging their property. (Missourian archive photo by Melina A. Mara)

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com The Red Star neighborhood of Cape Girardeau as seen Monday, Aug. 12, 2013.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Ironic though it must seem now, said Wayne Moore, a retired city employee and member of Red Star Baptist Church, the flood of 1993 did something good in the neighborhood. He volunteers at a food pantry housed at the church. Over 200 people received help from the pantry last month. Moore said a truck bringing a load of food and supplies to the devastated neighborhood in 1993 established the church as a go-to place for help for people seeking relief from the flood, and that tradition of giving has remained. Still, Moore said, the way the Red Star neighborhood is now, many years after the floods of 1993 and 1995 caused many residents to sell their properties to the federal government and move away, saddens him. ŇI saw so much suffering here,Ó Moore said, standing on North Main Street earlier this week. ŇYou look down here, there were so many houses,Ó he said, casting an arm to the south, where several empty lots are seen. ŇThey were friends, neighbors, people we went to church with. A whole lot of the folks that lived down here were church members, that made it all the more worse.Ó The floods, along with the advanced age of many residents of the Red Star neighborhood, means today that the churchŐs congregation has grown smaller, Moore said. During the flood of 1993, Moore had a fixed routine. He worked as part of the cityŐs 24/7 crew who made sure services were going to help residents with flooded homes. After work, Moore said, Ňit was grab a bite, shower and take a nap. I knew I better get that done because someone down here would be needing something, and I wanted to be there for them.Ó

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Commerce, Mo. as seen Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013.

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A look back at the areas affected by the 1993 flood.

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