When the remnants of Hurricane Ike traversed Missouri beginning at 8am on Sept 13th, 2008, it produced rainfalls between 3 and 7 times greater than normal.
"In Missouri, the heaviest rains were found across the northern half of the state. In northeast Missouri, Kirksville (Adair County) received a total of 8.14 inches of rain, while Columbia (Boone County) measured 7.19 inches of rain from the system. The St. Louis area was also hard hit, with O’Fallon (St. Charles County) reporting 5.84 inches of rain. Three deaths were reported in association with the storm. A woman was killed when a tree was struck by lightning and a limb fell on her in Ladue (St. Louis County). Two other people were killed in University City (St. Louis County) when they were swept away by flood waters while trying to move their vehicles to higher ground. Numerous roads were closed by flooding, including a stretch of Interstate 70. At the peak of the storm nearly 106,000 people were without power in the St. Louis Area."
http://mcc.sws.uiuc.edu/cliwatch/0809/080916.htm
Dramatic flash flooding was widely reported in many watersheds, including Coldwater Creek in North St. Louis County and Deer Creek in Brentwood, Ladue, Rock Hill, Maplewood and Webster Groves.
Following the flood, Stream Teams from the River des Peres Watershed Coalition mobilized to accomplish cleanups and assessment.
Danelle Haake, Susan Loui and Ben Griffiths and others filled the first dumpster on Sept 15th and, in the process, identified the first 3 55 gallon drums of toxic waste that had floated downstream in the flood.
Consecutive surveys of Deer Creek by kayak, and the River des Peres by canoe found 9 more 55 gallon drums of hazardous material.
Stream Team AmeriCorps contacted the MO Dept of Natural Resources Environmental Emergency Response hotline, and effected location and cleanup. In the process, the EPA became involved as they were also cleaning up several flood related disasters. More Stream Team AmeriCorps surveys were conducted and the locations of 30 more 55 gallon drums were determined by gps and transmitted to EPA situation coordinator, Heath Smith. Several EPA contractors were tasked with recovery, characterization and disposal.
In total, a minimum of 52 hazardous waste items were recovered and disposed of in the safe and legal manner as a result of these Stream Team efforts. You can see more photos here.
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