Flooding

The mayors and the director of the Metro East Sanitary District said other, wealthier St. Clair County communities should help pay for a key drainage ditch’s maintenance.

St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Clair County will receive more than $112 million in federal funding to help families recover from flooding and build resiliency for low- and moderate-income populations. Federal officials say the funding will help address the damage from recent floods and help the region prepare for future disasters.

Cahokia Heights, long plagued with a faulty sewer system, will receive a grant from the Illinois EPA.

Raw sewage backups and chronic flooding have been a decades-long issue in Centreville, now Cahokia Heights. Residents previously filed two federal lawsuits over these issues in 2020 and 2021.

Modern riverfront developments face a reality of accommodating a river that’s seeing major floods and droughts with more frequency.

The maps, which have not been updated since 2003, depict the danger presented to home and property owners.

Officials announced Cahokia Heights would receive $37 million in funding because of failing infrastructure. Over two years later, that money is still to be seen.

A stream revival project at Tower Grove Park helps people in the St. Louis region learn about the Osage Nation while keeping rain runoff from city sewers.

“The arguments were basically that the lawsuit we filed was too long and too confusing for them to respond to,” an attorney for the plaintiffs said. The case is now continuing.

People have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for millennia, but levee systems built in response to past disasters aren't designed for the newest risk: increased rainfall caused by climate change.