Workers shore up a temporary levee across Main Street in Grafton, Illinois, on May 29, 2019. (Brent Jones/St. Louis Public Radio)
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Early on Election Day, highways in the St. Louis area were inundated with water. Over several days, intense storms battered Missouri, bringing six to 10 inches of rain—record-breaking amounts for November.
The flash flooding killed at least five people , including two elderly poll workers whose vehicle was swept from a state highway.
Mayors along the Mississippi River have watched for years as intensifying rain storms and flooding wreak havoc on their communities.
Take Grafton, Illinois, which escaped Election Day flash flooding but suffered $160,000 to $170,000 in damages from a heavy rain event in July. The town’s main intersection was blocked with logs and debris, and the storm blew out a water line and left streets in need of repair.
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But Grafton never received a federal disaster declaration and was not eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Instead, it paid for road and water-line repairs through its Department of Public Works’ annual budget. As a result, the city could no longer purchase new trucks for snow plowing this year, as it had planned.