Meramec River pushes into Pacific but crests without serious flooding
PACIFIC — The Meramec River crested here before midday Friday, pushing water into the flatlands and kissing the small homes in the neighborhood below the railroad tracks, which has seen flood after flood.
The river's rise left roads blocked and basements damp, but appeared to spare the homes themselves, to homeowners' and officials' relief.
"Pacific got pretty lucky," said Steve Brune, the town's building commissioner, as he watched the waters begin to recede. Roads would likely be reopening soon.
A torrent of rain hit Missouri early this week , flooding roadways across the metro area, stranding drivers, delaying some voting on Election Day and killing several people across the state, including two in St. Louis County .
The rains, which fell for almost two days and dropped record-setting inch counts for the month , were predicted to stream into the Meramec over the week, pushing the river to flood stage on Friday in Valley Park, Eureka and Pacific.
On Friday morning, the Eureka High School ballfields along Highway 109 were indeed underwater. But downtown was dry.
Upstream in Pacific, the swollen Meramec had turned a section of the neighborhood south of the railroad tracks into a lake of sorts. Water filled parts of South Elm Street and East Central Street, among others, sometimes a foot deep. But it stopped just shy of houses most in jeopardy.
A few inches filled basements.
Doug Plowman was wading through the water toward his son's house on Elm.
They had sandbagged the day before, with help from friends and neighbors. He was checking to see how it did.
The house looked good. Water hadn't even reached the foundation. Then he walked around back and peeked into the basement. It had 2 to 3 inches of water. But the water was clear, and he figured cleanup would be easier than if it were muddy.
"I'm just happy that it didn't just fill that full," he said. He called his son.
"You got lucky," Plowman said into the phone.
"Thank god for all those people who helped me yesterday," said his son, also Doug Plowman.
"Another foot would have been real bad," said his dad.
Chris Moore and his daughter were checking out their family's home, too.
Moore, who lives with his grandparents, said the home has been in the family for generations.
But they know the drill. Sometimes it floods, here. Others have been far worse.
Waters were seven feet higher in 2017, he said.
They, too, were spared this time.
"Looks like we didn't take a hit," Moore said.
He was relieved.
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