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Hannibal, Missouri, was one of the lucky Iowns IhaI faced destrucIion from a flooded ri ver and survi ved. That this hap- pened was due to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Ever since Mark Twain wrote abouI these IwO mid-nine- teenth cenIury boys, Hannibal has deri ved a good part of its income from the tourist Ira de. The towns- people have carefully nUrlured the historic buildings in Ihe town to creaIe a hisIoric aImosphere. More than 100 buildings in the downtown area are on the National HisIoric Register. Yet. the Mississippi River has always been a real threat 10 Ihis Iourist Mecca. As far back as 1950. the Army Corps of Engineers had recommended that Hannibal build a flood wall to protect its hisIoric downIown. Townspeople were re- lucIant because of the projecIed cost of such a structure. That reluctance gradually changed when Ihe Missis- sippi River threaIened 10 inundate the town eighI times between 1960 and 1986.] In 1989. local business- men, banks. and Ihe city government raised 5850,000 as the city. s share of the $5.800.000 price tag for a flood wall. The Federal government had already agreed 10 pay mosI of Ihe cost. Construction began in April 1990. and was completed barely one year before the 1993 flood began. The flood wall sits 12 feet high and 3,650 feel long." It runs from just norIh of the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge beIween the Mississippi River and Ihe Iown for 25 blocks and then rums Page 32 Hannibal Hannibal 10 aCIion. Many feared that floodwaters might reach 32 feel and overlop the levee. So by July 10. volunteers began 10 fill and stack sandbags on top of the levee raising it another two fee1.5 Flood Disaster Relief Center in Hannibal, Missouri west for six blocks along the nOrlh edge of Bear Creek.3 After Ihe '93 flood. Ihe Corps of Engineers eSIi- mated Ihat Ihe flood wall had more than paid for itself by prevenring more than $ I 4,500,000 in damage to downIown Hannibal.4 But the flood wall did not proIect all of Hannibal. SouIh of the flood wall. along the nOrlhern bank of Bear Creek. were hundreds of homes. that sustained substanIial damage in the flood of '93. As early as April 15. 1993, the Mississippi River rose nearly six feet above flood stage which caused the waters of Bear Creek IhaI run into the big river to back up. overflow the rivers banks. and wash into homes on Jefferson and Ely Streets. This became only a taste of what was to come. Heavy rains throughoUI April and on inIo May and June raised the Mississippi to 28.7 feet. This was higher than Ihe 28.59 feet recorded in Ihe 1973 flood, and the Corps of Engineers estimaIed Ihe ri ver would go higher still. This record level spurred the people of Other volunteers also put a protective collar of sandbags around the city's electrical substation at Cave Hollow and around the water pumping station at Bridge Street.6 These protective measures paid off. On July 25. floodwaters reached 31.6 feel wiIh every indication of going sIill higher. Then. Hannibal got a break at Ihe expense of people living across the Mississippi in EasI Hannibal and in Hull. Illinois. The Sny Levee guarding those two towns broke and water covered 45,000 acres of Illinois farmland. ThaI break. however. caused the river level at Hannibal to drop four feel in eight hours.7 Although the river would rise again. iI never again came close to the 31.6 feel mark. NeverIheless, a 101 of damage had been done. In AuguSI when City