“It couldn’t have gone any smoother, with the city staff and volunteers that held it (water) back with a 1,000-foot-long wall, it was absolutely amazing,” a relieved Mayor Brant Walker said of the city’s Downtown flood containment efforts.
Walker spoke to a reporter as the river level at Melvin Price Locks and Dam 26 had stabilized at 35 feet plus varying fractions that fluctuated slightly throughout the day. The Service had kept to its prediction of 35.7 feet it made Wednesday for New Year’s Eve Day, making it the fourth-highest river crest recorded in Alton.
“It is like a cool Christmas story that went well,” he said.
Walker also praised the interdepartmental cooperation among city employees, and support from Downtown businesses that provided hot cocoa, coffee and space in which city workers and volunteers could warm up after working in the cold.
“The business community chipped in,” he said. “I’d like to give a big ‘thank you’ to every volunteer, city workers, the county and businesses.”
Kimberly Clark, Alton City Council coordinator, said Public Works Department personnel will be manning the pumps pulling out thousands of gallons of water per minute from storm sewers through the weekend at State Street and West Broadway, until the water recedes. Walker said as soon as those flood waters go down, the rock, sandbags and concrete Jersey barrier floodwall sections at the intersection will come down.
Walker said Thursday he cannot say how much the flood will cost the city in materials, equipment and manpower — particularly overtime — as the battle to hold back the floodwaters continues. He also said he is hopeful that the measures the city took will help it get compensation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Walker said Alton’s plan to prepare and hold back floods, which the city has altered somewhat over the years, appears to not need any adjustment at this point. “The tweaks we put in the plan have made it very effective,” he said.
Sunday, the Service had predicted the crest would be 38.9 feet at midnight Dec. 31-Jan. 1, lowered it to 38.8 feet on Monday, then to 38 feet on Tuesday. If the crest is at 35.7 feet, it would be the fourth-highest recorded river level in Alton.
The highest flood level at Mel Price was 42.72 feet on Aug. 1, 1993; with the second highest being 36.90 feet on June 18, 1844; and the third highest was 36.89 feet on April 28, 1973. Flood stage at Mel Price is 21 feet, to which the Service predicts the river would drop by Jan. 10.
———
©2015 The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.)
Visit The Telegraph (Alton, Ill.) at www.thetelegraph.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
