Residents Affected by Illinois Flooding Go Home for Now
Posted:30 August, 2009 by Trailer Park Superstar
Shannon Brackett and her husband Phil moved back into their trailer at Reed Station Mobile Home Park in Carbondale on Saturday and began the process of waiting for the insurance adjusters, for both cars and the trailer itself.
The mobile home sits about 42 inches off the ground and the water was only about three feet deep in their part of the trailer park. They know the underpinning of the trailer was damaged, but they won’t know how badly until the insurance inspection is completed. That could be done today, which would be good, since the next round of rainfall is supposed to begin tonight.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for 2 to 3 inches of rain over the next three days and right now, the NWS is of the opinion that it is unlikely the new rain will affect the water levels in the flood zones. And, the rivers generally crested at levels lower than the forecasts.
But Southern Illinois is far from out of danger. In Grand Tower, a community of about 1,000 people along the Mississippi River bottoms, much of the fertile farmland is under water. On Friday, the mayor issued a voluntary evacuation order because the levees that hold back the Big Muddy River and the Mississippi River were showing signs of slippage.
Slippage generally occurs when an earthen levee becomes so saturated with water that the top layers of soil begin to slip off, in a sort of mudslide. Then, tiny trickles of water begins to weave their way through the levee and each little stream carries a bit of soil with it, rapidly enlarging the hole in the levee.
These levees survived the 1993 Mississippi River flood intact, but stressed. On Friday, it looked as though they might not make it through this onslaught.
With supervision from the Army Corps of Engineers , the levee was sandbagged and areas with slippage were patched and as long as the river levels do not stay high for a long period of time, the community should be safe. Residents who left during the evacuation generally returned home Sunday.
On the other side of the state, about 75 miles east of Grand Tower, the city of Harrisburg is fighting high water from another river, the Ohio. City leaders report that it isn’t the worst flood the city has sustained over the years, but it’s pretty bad. Early estimates are that businesses in the community suffered $4 million in lost. Monday, after being closed for a week, the Wal-Mart was able to reopen; the Kroger grocery store remains closed with an estimated 30 inches of water still in the parking lot.
The Little Egypt Network of the American Red Cross is out helping flood victims and still has two emergency shelters operational. On Monday, the Red Cross volunteers went door to door at the mobile home park handing out cleaning supplies and letting residents know where to apply for additional assistance. Those who were displaced can get a daily stipend for the time they were out of their homes to help cover the cost of food and other necessities that they had to buy while displaced.
Or, like resident Brenna Carriger, to replace the refrigerator full of food that she lost in the storm. Carriger was out of her home until Sunday night after the evacuation last Wednesday and the power was out for four of those days. Nothing in the fridge or small freezer could be salvaged.
“I don’t have to be a refugee anymore,” Carriger said. “I can sleep in my own bed again, at least until the rain starts on Wednesday.”
