YEAR LATER, RIVER'S FURY NOT FORGOTTEN

Last summer's flooding re-established Mother Nature's domain over man.

Rains fell, seemingly ceaselessly from March through July, pushing the Mississippi River to new heights and forcing area residents from their homes.

The river, forced from the confines of its banks by the sheer volume of water draining from rain-soaked land along its route, invaded the homes of residents in the Red Star district, along lower parts of Highway 177 and in South Cape Girardeau.

It backed into the Diversion Channel, causing the usually-shallow waterway to abandon its banks and flood the farmland between the river and Allenville to the west.

River barge traffic was backed up for months, mosquito populations festered, roads were closed, annual events were postponed or canceled. And the rain continued to fall.

On Aug. 8, 1993, the Mississippi River crested at 48.49 feet in Cape Girardeau, almost 20 feet above flood stage. It was a Sunday. The Flood of 1993 was about to end.

It beat the record flood crest at Cape Girardeau of 45.6 feet, which occurred May 1, 1973.

The much-anticipated record-setting day didn't stir much enthusiasm among those who live along the Mississippi's banks. If they had not been displaced or otherwise inconvenienced by the river's inundation, they had spent seemingly endless hours filling sandbags and listening to report after report about the flood.

So the river crested and began its descent, without much more than a passing acknowledgement from the general public.

One year later, although it may have been pushed to the recesses of some people's minds, the flood hasn't been forgotten.

"We learned a lot last summer, and we learned it working together as a team," said Brian Miller, Cape Girardeau County's emergency operations coordinator. "We had dealt with so many floods before that we knew what to expect -- at least in the beginning -- and we knew what places would be hit hardest.

"So we took a pro-active stance, almost over-fortifying those places we knew would be hit hard, so we could focus our attention on others that had never been affected," he said. "We had never faced a flood of that magnitude in our recorded history. It opened our eyes to a lot of things."

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep remembers the flood as a crisis situation that called for fast action and sometimes drastic decisions. After the flood began to inundate Cape Girardeau County homes, Huckstep ordered a curfew that was enforced by city police and sheriff's deputies. It restricted passage in and out of areas designated flood zones.

"There were a few questions raised, but I felt then and do now that it was something for the courts to decide," said Huckstep. "It wasn't the first time we curfewed areas, and it won't be the last.

"My first responsibility was to protect the property of those homeowners affected by the flood," he said.

One of the biggest frustrations for officials who were meeting on a daily basis, working to draw up a battle plan, was the ever-fluctuating crest predictions being put out by a half-dozen federal agencies.

In a week's time the crest predictions varied from 41 feet to 50, leaving city and county officials -- not to mention residents trying to protect their homes -- guessing.

"The crest predictions made it hard for us to prepare," said Huckstep. "A 6-inch rise or fall in a crest prediction can make all the difference in the world to someone trying to save his home. It also leaves officials in a quandary over where to direct supplies and manpower."

As the river continued to rise, city and county officials and representatives of relief organizations quickly realized that to win the war against the encroaching floodwaters efforts would have to be combined.

"We learned an enormous amount from the flood of 1993," said Mary Burton, director of the Cape Girardeau County chapter of the American Red Cross. "The flood pointed out our weaknesses and our strengths.

"It forced us to stretch our resources to the limit, to see how far they would go," she said. "This kind of knowledge can be used not only in the next flood, but for an earthquake, a tornado or any other natural disaster this area may fall victim to."

The Red Cross is still assisting some area residents caught in the red tape of federal flood-relief programs. It acts as an advocate on their behalf.

"Some of the people, who have already suffered so much, have gotten lost in the paperwork and have become so very frustrated," said Burton. "For them, the fight is not yet over."