PACIFIC — Amanda Pritchard has seen the Meramec River rise and fall countless times, sometimes catastrophically.
So when Pritchard heard forecasts that the Meramec River would flood once again this week, she and her family scrambled to clear their basement late on Election Night and left to stay at a nearby KOA Campground. But her father, niece and four dogs stayed behind, hoping the worst wouldn't come.
By Friday morning, the floodwaters had risen, and Pritchard stood at the foot of a murky road with her daughter. Her family members were trapped at home.
“Wait. That's all I can do,” she said. “I don't have a boat to get to him, so [...] like I told him, all roads to him are flooded. So we're just gonna have to wait.”
The flooding in Pacific, along with neighboring communities like Eureka and Valley Park, followed historic rainfall earlier this week that also caused flash flooding across St. Louis County, killing two people.
St. Louis County declared a state of emergency on Thursday, enabling the county to request state and federal resources to assist with storm response. Governor Mike Parson had already declared a state of emergency earlier in the week.
City officials in the Franklin County community encouraged residents to evacuate their homes and businesses and to take precautions as water levels continued to rise. The Meramec River’s crest ended up being lower than anticipated — about 26 feet versus the expected 28 feet — and not nearly as bad as flooding in 2015 and 2017.
“We are extremely, extremely, extremely lucky,” said Clay Henderson, a West County Heating and Cooling technician, after walking near the floodwaters alongside his wife Kali and their 3-month-old daughter Charli. “This is as close a call, I think, as somebody would like to get.”
Pacific Mayor Heather Filley shared the same sense of relief.
“I’m very relieved that the floodwaters did not come up in as many residents and businesses as we had thought they may,” she said. “The water just kind of took its own little different path this time than what we've seen in years past, and I think it's because a lot of the landscaping has changed over time.”
Over the years, Filley explained, the city has used data to help residents prepare for flooding. Many homes along the floodplain have been physically elevated, and some buildings that were especially vulnerable to flooding have been torn down.
"Once this [flood] is completely over [we ask] what kind of impact it had to residents and businesses — really just studying and preparing for the next time and making notes of where the water got to," Filley said. “It's not going to be a matter if we do this again, it'll be when we do this again.”
Despite the flooding, Pritchard remained in good spirits. Her family at home has food and a generator, and she’s safe with her mother and two children."It's never a good thing when things flood because you have to start all over again," she said. "But, you know, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger."
St. Louis Public Radio's Ulaa Kuziez contributed to this report.
