TRAIL OF TEARS FLOOD LOSSES STILL UNKNOWN

Park officials at Trail of Tears State Park north of Cape Girardeau are waiting for the Mississippi River to drop further so they can assess flood damages to the park's riverfront.

The rest of the park was not affected by last month's record flood crest of 47.9 feet, and remained open. That area will remain open through the fall and winter, weather permitting, said a park spokesman. But the riverfront campsite and picnic day-use area will remain closed until cleanup and repair are completed.

Assistant Park Superintendent Greg Henson said the greatest concern is the extent of damage to the access road to the riverfront, damage to several campsite hookups, and possible damage to the sewage lagoon that serves the riverfront campsite.

Henson said that when the river crested last month 15 feet of water covered a portion of the access road to the riverfront electric campsite.

"This time the water was over the lower access road as far back as the trailhead of the Sheppard's Point Trail, which is about three-quarters of a mile west from the assistant park superintendent's residence, and all the way out to the campsite area," said Henson.

Henson said most of the grassy area in the picnic day-use area just south of the electric campsite and the grassy area near the electric campsite had water over it and now has mud and silt.

"Right now the roadbed of the riverfront access road is real spongy. If we allowed normal traffic over it right now it would only cause more damage and be a danger to park visitors. We hope to get some engineers down here this month to inspect the road so we can determine how much damage occurred."

Henson said: "The water was high enough that there was a real strong current coming down the access road from the campsite to the day-use area. Some of the asphalt road surface has buckled in some spots. Fortunately, the water got up close to, but did not get in, our renovated bath house. In fact, the only structure in the park that had water in it was my residence. We had about 3 feet of water in the basement at one time."

Park Superintendent Hershel Price said the water was pumped into the basement to prevent damage to the foundation and structure by hydrostatic pressure of the ground water.

"We were able to save all of their personal things as well as the house and heating and air-conditioning equipment. But Greg and his wife had to boat into their house from the Sheppard Point trailhead until the water went down," Price said.

Henson said the septic systems at his residence and the bath house will have to be pumped out and inspected to make sure all of the lines are clear and that they meet all health codes.

He said the sewage lagoon that serves the 19 electric campsites is still covered by water.

"We have no idea as to the extent of damage, if any, to the sewage lagoon," he said. "The river will have to fall another 2 feet before we can really get a good look at it to see if it's silted up or if the berms were cut. There was a lot of current flowing through the lagoon, but we're optimistic because we can still see fence and fence posts on top of the berms."

Henson said water got into the electrical junction boxes and wiring at three of the electric campsites and they will have to be replaced. In addition, the water and sewer lines will also have to be inspected before the campsites can be used again, he said.

"We haven't seen our boat ramp at the river access area since July, so we're not sure how much of a mess we'll have to clean up down there. We just got through cleaning up from the April and May flooding when the river came up again. I'm sure we're going to have to haul off a lot of mud and silt again," said Henson.

Cleanup from the flood at Trail of Tears will take longer than normal because the heavy equipment needed to remove the mud and silt is not kept at the park, said Henson. "They're using this equipment right now in other more badly damaged state parks. We have to wait our turn," he said. "We can do some cleanup work, but a lot of it will have to wait until the bigger equipment comes in."

Henson said he's not sure if the electric campsite and picnic day-use area can be cleaned up, repaired, and reopened before the end of the camping season Oct. 31, or if the campsite will remain closed until next April. "Most of it will depend on how much damage was done to the roadbed and the sewage lagoon," he said. "But we want to emphasize that it will be reopened as soon as possible.

Price said he's heard rumors that the riverfront area of the park will be closed permanently. "I can assure you that I have no knowledge of any such proposal," he said. "As soon as the area is operationally safe we will open it. We do not have a timetable set up yet for the reopening because we cannot get into the area with vehicles to start the repair and cleanup work," said Price.

Henson said hunters who plan to use the boat ramp at the river access this fall should call the park office first to determine the condition of the ramp. "As the water goes down we'll try to clear off the mud and silt, but if it falls a couple of feet in a short time, we won't be able to clear the ramp right away," he explained.

Despite the damage, Henson said Trail of Tears came through the flooding with much less damage than did other state parks that were flooded. At least three state parks Big Lake north of Kansas City, Lewis and Clark near Rushville, and Wakonda near LaGrange are closed until further notice due to flood damage.

In addition to Trail of Tears, other state parks that were partially damaged by flooding include The Katy Trail in several spots west of St. Louis, Van Meter near Marshal, and Castlewood near Ballwin.

Sue Holst with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in Jefferson City, said the department plans to apply for federal disaster relief assistance funds available for public facilities to help repair the parks. If these funds are approved, Holst said the federal government would pay up to 75 percent of the cost with the department adding 25 percent matching funds.