Jefferson County - East-West Gateway Coordinating Council

A Regional Overview All-Hazard Mitigation Plan 15
Since 1979 there have been 14 major flood events on the Meramec River at Eureka. Since
1916, there have been 14 major flood events on the Meramec River at Valley Park. Since
1973, there have been 14 major floods on the Meramec River at Arnold and 14 major
floods on the Meramec at Byrnes Mill. The properties in and near the floodplains of the
planning region Jefferson County are subject to flooding events almost annually. Since
flooding is such a pervasive problem throughout the county, many residents have
purchased flood insurance to help recover form losses incurred from flooding events, have
sold property, or have rebuilt structures to reflect construction standards. Flood insurance
covers only the improved land, or the actual building structures. Although flood insurance
assists in recovery, it can provide an inappropriate sense of protection from flooding.
Many residents and businesses that have flood damage rebuilt in the same vulnerable
areas, only to be flooded again. These properties are termed repetitive loss properties and
are very troublesome because they continue to expose lives and valuable property to
flooding hazards. Local governments, as well as federal agencies such as FEMA, recognize
this problem of floodplain insurance and attempt to remove the risk from repetitive loss
properties though projects such as acquiring land and relocating homes or by elevating the
structures.
Continued repetitive loss claims from flood events lead to an increased amount of damage
caused by floods, higher insurance rates, and contribute to the rising cost of taxpayerfunded
disaster relief for flood victims.
Intensity or Strength
The largest disaster to impact Jefferson County in recent years was the flood in 1993. Its
size and impact was unprecedented and has been considered the most costly and
devastating flood to ravage the U.S. in modern history, as evidenced by Table J28 above.
The number of record river levels, its aerial extent, the number of persons displaced,
amount of property damage and its duration surpassed all earlier U.S. floods in modern
times. In the 2001 flood, a total of $1.9 billion dollars in damage and costs and at least
three deaths over a 14-state area including Missouri occurred. In the 1993 flood
approximately $21 billion dollars in damage and costs and 50 deaths resulted (NOAA). In
a report from the NCDC (Technical Report No. 2000-02), from events dating from 1980 to
1999, sites that in the 1997 flooding, 9 states including Missouri were impacted and an
estimated $1 billion dollars in damage and costs and 11 deaths resulted. The report also
stated that floods at the second most likely type of weather event to occur (based on 46
weather events from 1980 to 1999).
Lives Lost, Injuries, Property Damage, Economic Losses/Other Losses
Due to flooding of many of the major roadways and interstates, 'commuting' distances
grew from several miles to over 200 miles in some instances. Many of the bridges crossing
the Mississippi were destroyed or damaged by the flooding. From July 16-20, there were
no bridge crossings over a 212-mile span between Burlington, Iowa and St. Louis, Missouri.
Also, there was no Mississippi River traffic over a 585-mile span from Cairo, Illinois through