The waiting game

In 1993, Donna Heck was living in a house on Sheridan Drive, near Sears. Only occasionally did rain water pool in her front yard during a downpour.

Heck now lives on Second Street in downtown Cape Girardeau where she and her 12-year-old daughter, Tiffany, have a view of the river -- right outside their back door.

As the rain started falling Sunday afternoon, the 25th day of rain since April 1, the Hecks packed the last of their belongings into the back of their car and took off for dry ground, partly because the river was up to their door and partly because the city was about to shut off sewer service to their home.

Steve Cook, environmental services coordinator for the city, said they've had to shut off service to one other house near Heck's because the water was surrounding it.

"It saves us from having water going directly through our sewer lines," Cook said. "If the water comes up and gets in a house, it can go through sinks and drains and fill our four-inch lines, and we don't need that."

Cook said the city may shut off service to two more homes in the Red Star region today.

Remaining optimistic

While the Hecks moved, residents in Cape Girardeau, Dutchtown, Mo., and Commerce, Mo., whose homes haven't met with the river yet tried their best to remain optimistic about creeping floodwaters.

Before the rain Sunday afternoon, the Mississippi River was at 40.1 feet.

A spokesman for the National Weather Service in Paducah said the river, which was at one time expected to crest at 44 feet today, is now expected to crest at that level Sunday morning.

Kevin Wilthong, a resident of Dutchtown, hopes that when the river crests it won't be any closer to his house than it is now.

Almost three-fourths of his two-acre plot of land on Highway 74 is covered with floodwater.

Wilthong was forced to leave his home in 1993 when the river crested at 48 feet, causing water from the Mississippi River Diversion Channel to take over his home. Now he's playing the waiting game to see if he's going to have to move out again.

"It all depends on the rain up north," he said. "I'm paying attention to it. Last time it knocked out the septic system, and we had to get out. I don't want that to happen again."

While Wilthong worries about the future of his house, his friends are taking advantage of the situation and using his back yard as a fishing hole.

"They haven't caught anything yet," Wilthong said with a smile.

'Keeps coming closer'

Peggy Kight, who lives in Commerce, said she's just waiting to see what happens too.

"I'm 57, and I've lived here all my life," she said. "I keep saying we're gonna have a big'un just like we did in '93 and '95."

Usually Kight's home sits several hundred feet from the river. Now it's only about 100 feet away.

"It just keeps coming closer," Kight said. "Every morning we make sure it's not seeping in the basement."

In August 1993, Kight was forced to leave her home and stay with friends in Scott City, Mo., when the river charted a new path right through her living room. After three months she was able to move back home, but had to replace all of the floors and furniture.

Now, nine years later, she knows if the river gets any higher she might have to do it all over again. But this time she says she has friends and family members on call who can help her move her belongings in a hurry if she needs to.

The floodwaters lurking in Kight's back yard have engulfed a large part of Commerce, including a section of Route E, which is one of the main routes to get from one side of town to the other.

Joannie and Jerry Smith have lived and worked in Commerce since 1995.

They're trying to think positively about flooding.

"I can fish from my bed," Joannie Smith said laughing. "Not everyone can say that."

Smith said she would take living in a place like Commerce, where it happens to flood every few years, over a place prone to flash floods any day because at least with the big floods you can make plans to get away if you have to.

Supplied detour maps

As for the winery the Smiths own and operate, she said business couldn't be better.

Usually patrons take Route E to County Road 321 to get to the River Ridge Winery, but since the river has taken over a large section of Route E they have to go the back way.

To make sure everyone searching for the winery finds their way the Smiths attached detour maps to the road closed sign at the entrance to Commerce.

The first direction: Turn around.

Kight and the Smiths say they're prepared to stay in Commerce until water starts knocking on their doors.

But what else would you expect from a town that celebrates Flood Fest each year in honor of the flood that completely destroyed their town in 1993, Kight said.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128