Letter to the Editor

To the editor:

The headline read, “New round of flood warnings issued as area rivers rise.” At one time this headline would not have put the fear of God in me, but now it does.

My family has owned property on the Big River for 70 years. In all those years we only flooded once, in 1993.

We were told it was a 100-year flood and probably would not happen again in my lifetime.

Well, something did happen to change all that: Valley Park was allowed to build a levee to keep the water out of a flood plain.

People built in this flood plain and wanted protection from the Meramec River.

It is stated on the internet that they built it 8 feet higher than they were given permission for.

When you are allowed to do this — where do you think the water goes? It goes into someone else’s backyard and home.

Since Valley Park was allowed to build the levee, homes along the Meramec and Big River have flooded.

These are homes that never flooded before. Homes next to the Sunset Lakes Golf Course are ruined. Eureka has the worst flooding ever. There was two feet of water in homes along the Big River.

This is not fair and equable treatment of people living on these properties.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should go back to school and learn about gravity and water.

Water stopped from flowing into a flood plain moves to a different location.

Marlene Nickels
Sunset Hills