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<br />Experts disagree about how <br />big the Flood of 1993 <br />really was. Various re- <br />searchers rank iI as Ihe second, <br />third, or fourth largest flood in <br />Missouri history. I Nobody ar- ~ <br />gues, Ihough. that in tenus of <br />property destruction and econom- ~...:."..:-..- <br />ic loss it was the worst. Tenus like <br />"hundred year flood.' and "feet <br />above llood stage" are vague ways <br />to measure magnitude, since some <br />"hundred year tloods" occurred in <br />Ihe same place in boIh 1993 and <br />1995.2 and the government has <br />periodically adjusIed Ihe heights <br />thaI it considers a "tlood stage.. aI <br />most local ions in the 136 years <br />since iI instituIed Ihat kind of <br />measurement.) It is safest. there- <br />fore. 10 ignore Ihese calculations <br />of magnitude and to concentraIe <br />instead on what is certain: the <br />tlood of 1993 ruined more crop <br />land, destroyed more residences and businesses, and cost the <br />taxpayers more money than any oIher tlood in the sIaIe. s <br />long history. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />..... <br /> <br />.~"- <br /> <br />In August. 1993, the New York Times published <br />statisIics of tlood damage in nine MidwesIern slates <br />including Missouri. The statistics for Illinois. Iowa. Kansas. <br />Minnesota. Missouri. Nebraska. North Dakota, South <br />Dakota. and Wisconsin clearly show Ihe unfortunate fact <br />that Missouri suffered more damage in tenus of dollars Ihan <br />any oIher sIate.4 This is noI surprising because both the <br />Mississippi and Missouri Rivers tlow through the slate. <br />However, between 1927 and 1993. the federal. state and <br />local efforts had variouslv built 742 tlood control levees <br />throughout the state. This facI perhaps led some Missourians <br />to believe IhaI it was safe to build homes and to plant crops <br />on these tloodplains.5 By 1993. Missourians had buill over <br />216.000 households on the stale. s floodplains in Ihe fonu of <br />either single family dwellings. apartments. or trailers. <br />During Ihe 1993 tlood. 37.CXlO people who lived within these <br />areas were forced to leave their homes. Over 12.000 homes <br />were damaged and over 3.1 million acres of cropland. <br />represenIing 34% of Missouri.s overall cropland, were <br /> <br /> <br />.-- <br /> <br />Former Cedar City during the '93 floods. <br /> <br />Damage Estimates for 1993 Midwest Flooding <br />in Millions of Dollars <br /> <br />State <br />I\1issouri <br />Iowa <br />Illinois <br />North Dakota <br />Minnesota <br />Wisconsin <br />South Dakota <br />Kansas <br />Nebraska <br /> <br />Total Damage <br />3,000 <br />2.200 <br />1.535 <br />1.500 <br />1.023 <br />909 <br />595 <br />574 <br />347 <br /> <br />Agriculture Damage <br />1.800 <br />1,200 <br />605 <br />705 <br />800 <br />800 <br />595 <br />434 <br />292 <br /> <br />covered wiIh waIer and their bounty was ruined.6 Some <br />counties were hit especially hard. Flood waters covered 43% <br />of St. Charles County for insIance.7 This extensive damage <br />was made worse by exceptionally heavy rains. which caused <br />Ihis tlood to last for eight months-longer than any oIher in <br />Missouri hisIory. During the five year period thaI preceded <br />1993, Kansas City averaged 13.39 inches of rainfall between <br />May and the end of July. In 1993. however. the same Ihree <br /> <br />Page 9 <br />