FLOOD05748

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Stemming the Tide of Loss - Missouri
• Date: 6/15/1999
• Prepared For: State of Missouri
• Prepared By: Missouri Emergency Management Agency
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Historic FEMA Regulatory Floodplain Information

calling county surveyor Bill Shea 10
ask for details.6

Lincoln County and Winfield

L.ncoln County liesjusI north of
St. CharlesCounty and has a 25
mile border with the Missis-
sippi. The floodplain along the great
river is a rich agriculIural area with a
few small Iowns scattered among its
fields. Winfield wiIh 592 citizens in
1993. was the largest of these towns.
but Old Monroe. Silex. and Foley
fonned satellite communities.

Each of these farming commu-
niIies had experienced frequent tlood-
ing. The last big one before 1993 had
been in 1973. when Ihe Pin Oak Levee
some three miles east of Wintield had
been overtopped and hundreds of
local farms tlooded. Still, the resi-
denIs were confident thaI this time Ihe
seven large levees maintained by the
Corps of Engineers along the rivers
edge would hold.

On June 30, however, excep-
tionally heavy rains began accompa-
nied by high winds thaI blew the roofs
off some Irailers in Wintield. The
river level steadily rose because afIer
weeks of rain the ground could absorb
no more. By July I, when weaIher
forecasIers predicted a 36.3 foot cresI.
jusI 6 IenIhs of a foot below the
breakIhrough cresI of 1973, nervous
county residents gaIhered 10 reinforce
local levees.!

Their efforts were no maIch
for the force of Ihe water. During Ihe
nighI of July 3rd. part of Ihe levee
located 1.5 miles from Mississippi
Lock and Dam 25 gave way. By
Sunday morning, tloodwaIer had cut
a 400 foot hole through the levee and
the easIern edge of Winfield was
covered. At least 150 people tled their
homes. and 4.000 acres of farm land

Page 42

were covered. Sandbaggers, joined
by NaIional Guard troops of the
3175th MPs (Warrenton), fell back to
the Pin Oak Levee and began to try to
stop Ihe water. But on July 10 this
levee gave way, tlooding more
farmland and forcing another 100
people to evacuaIe Winfield. North of
Winfield. flood waters covered al-
most all of Foley and Silex, forcing all
of its residents 10 leave. SOuIh of
Wintield. Old Monroe.s levee held.
but residents prepared to leave.2

From Ihen on. levee afIer
levee collapsed. 1100 homes suffered
flood damage (200 in Winfield),
2.700 parcels of farmland went
under-representing 30% of the farm
land in Lincoln CounIy. wiIh an
appraised value of $29.304.31 O-and
most of the county's roads were
covered.3 Sandbaggers did manage to
save part of Winfield by building a
levee along the top of Highway 79,
and in Elsberry. 12 miles north,
workers saved the town by using
cranes 10 lifI and place concreIe
highway dividers for a makeshift
levee atop the Burlington Northern
Railroad embankmentA

Residents moved into trailers
supplied by FEMA and inIo shelters
maintained by the Red Cross. and
waited for the waIers to go down.5

On AugusI 11, 1993, the Troy
Free Press carried a sIory about
Representative Harold Volkmer's
"Relocation.. bill. That bill would
eventually help 323 Lincoln CounIy
and Winfield residents to relOCale out
of the tloodplain. The article gener-
aIed interest among tlood victims.
and within a week. residents were

Other Lincoln County resi-
denIs were calling The Boonslick
Regional Planning Commission.
where Andrew Riganti placed their
names on a lisI and forwarded it 10 the
State Emergency ManagemenI
Agency. By November 30. Riganti
had a list of 83 people who had
expressed interest.

At this time much of the
infonnaIion that people were getting
was confusing. Newspaper accounts
show that the information was a
combination of whaI Representative
Volkmer proposed in his as yet un-
passed bill, and what Ihe original
buyOUI bill sIipulated that had been
passed back in 1980.7

Finally. once President
ClinIon signed the bill on December
2. Congressman Volkmer scheduled
a meeIing for officials from all over
the sIaIe on December lOon the
Columbia Campus of Ihe UniversiIy
of Missouri. to discuss details. At this
meeIing people learned that the old
federal/state cost share of 50/50 had
been changed 10 75/25. and thaI the
25% could be financed with money
from a variety of sources including
communiIy developmenI block
grants.

The same meeIing also laid
down rules about the voluntary nature
of the bill. outlined the process of
inspecIion and appraisal for each
property, and emphasized that any
homeowner could appeal the ap-
praised price and back out at any time
during negotiations. In addition. the