Meramec River record crest ever?

[swatski]

I am on my way to recover my trailer parked at Meramec Marina in Sunset Hills, MO. It will be under water early tomorrow morning. The boat is dry docked and will float with the marina...
(the thinking is there is enough cable on the reels to hold it all together and keep it from floating down to Mississippi....)

The Meramec River will crest on Wednesday in Valley Park, MO, couple miles up the river, at about an inch above the 39.73 - Flood of Record on December 6, 1982. Crazy!!!
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?gage=vllm7&wfo=lsx

42.6 represents the top of the flood protection gates of the Valley Park levee... say a prayer it won't be breached, there are many many old businesses that could be affected...

5 miles down the river in Arnold, MO, it will crest at 2" above 45.3 - the RECORD FLOOD LEVEL that was reached on August 1 1993.
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lsx&gage=arnm7&prob_type=stage&source=hydrograph

The Meramec river was made famous/infamous by the fiasco of Times Beach, MO, a little town near Eureka, MO, evacuated in 1983 after a fellow named Russell Martin Bliss, the owner of a small waste oil business, worked a little road improvement project there...

Many here still remember the 43.9 Crest of the "Dioxin Contaminated Flood" from Times Beach in December, 1982...

It has been a beautiful and pristine body of water ever since, no locks or dams. But boy, is it wild! It can go up and down by 20ft in the matter of hours...

EDIT: Meramec is actually cresting in Valley Park, MO at close to 5 ft above the Flood of Record on December 6, 1982... That is unreal.

 

[jcyamahariders wife]

Hope all is okay with your boat and trailer it is really crazy here in Missouri right now. It just started to flurry here in Gerald mo the temps must have dropped.

Just seen a couple videos of docks breaking away in the ozarks and millions of dollars are floating away just mind blowing !

 

[robert843]

We are still at flood stages all over South Carolina in the rivers as well. Went to put my boat in on Sunday at the Waccama River and almost didn't as the water was so high. My ramp I normally use has been flooded out many times over the past few months. Best of luck I hope it all works out. Why not pull the boat out if possible if grabbing the trailer? If the water is already high understand it may not be possible to pull out.

 

[billyb]

The lake of the ozarks is higher than it was earlier this summer when the governor issued the two days of no wake lake wide.

It's a least one foot higher now. My neighbor called from down there, said my gang way was under water partially...crazy.

 

[billyb]

 

[swatski]

Got my trailer out, man it is crazy! I debated pulling the boat out last week, but decided to leave it in the dock in case I can find time to do more water testing of my winter mods in the next couple of weeks, didn't think it was going to be THAT bad.

Usually, when water gets really high here, the ramps get inundated and can be inoperable for weeks, even after water is down. I think the boat will be okay, the guys running my marina are pretty resourceful when it comes to keeping the docks from floating away. Hopefully - no taking a road trip to New Orleans later this week for me! - to pick up my Yammi...

 

[billyb]

To give you an idea of how high that is...there is a sea wall just in front of that stupid light pole.

The water is typically 3.5' to 4' below that in summer. 5-7' below that in the winter months.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Here at work, Union, Mo, the Bourbeuse River has already set a new record at 33.86 and is expected to crest at 35 ft. Usually this part of town has no water running under the bridge no matter what time of year.

 

[rkluck]

Wow that water is high. My Lake (Hartwell) is up and will probably go further but not like you guys are having over in Mo. The water came up so fast. Sunday when I left the house it was fine. Now it looks like this. I may have to try to move it Thursday.

 

[jcyamaharider]

You need a boat to get to your b0at.

 

[007]

hey @swatski, was that your blue 190 in the slip on the end? Walked by it Christmas Eve . The river has gone up like 10ft since then!!!

 

[swatski]

hey @swatski, was that your blue 190 in the slip on the end? Walked by it Christmas Eve . The river has gone up like 10ft since then!!!

Yep... I am kicking myself so hard... Last Wednesday was the last day I could have pulled it, and I was still running it. I was on call Christmas Eve, blah, blah, and then the marina guys criss-crossed the docks to hold them together, so that was it. Hopefully it will hold...

But right now the water is surpassing anyone's wildest predictions... it may beat the historical crest by several feet.

Bye bye my pretty little boat...

 

[007]

Hang in there man. My boat was trapped on a hill in the flood of 2008. Couldn't get to it for 6 weeks and was losing my mind. Water breached the hilltop and submerged the trailer, but the boat made it through with only minimal trailer damage. We are all praying for yah.

 

[swatski]

I certainly hope it will not be swamped... But, after all - it's only a boat...

And speaking of which, I have just had one of the most incredible encounters of my life today, kind of putting things in perspective.

So, my kids' music teacher shows up late for their lessons. No problem, I hardly notice, we are having house guests, I'm not even paying attention. He does his thing, which takes about an hour and a half (three daughters) as always, he is done, we go through our little routine, I walk him to the doorway, we chit-chat, I give him the check, we confirm about the next lesson, next week, blah, blah. So, I ask him how he is doing, if he is okay driving back with all the water... To which - completely calmly - he responds that he just lost his house today....

His house has been swamped by rising waters... of Meramec River. I almost sat on the floor. I realized (I actually KNEW) he lives in Pacific, MO, which has been on the news all day.
(I feel like a total schmuck.... just didn't occur to me for some reason...).

Mr. Johnson is okay, but of course lost his furniture etc. Thank God he left before too late, apparently last night, staying with his elderly father in the countryside... We offered to put him up, he said he will think about it, but doesn't really have a plan yet...

I'm in such disbelief. This man looses his home and he is still calmly giving a music lesson to my kids...

What a guy.

It does put things in perspective, doesn't it...

 

[rkluck]

That is amazing! I am sure it helps for him to handle as many routine things as possible. There is nothing he can do now but wait.

 

[007]

 

[swatski]

View attachment 31661

@007 That is a crazy a$$ awesome picture! Did you take it with a drone? Awesome, what a view.

Well, there you are - welcome to Meramec Marina, the home of my Yammi. You can actually see it at the end of the stall, lower right corner of the docks in this pic!

I was about to post some pictures taken today by the marina crew, they have been running in and out in jon boats to tend to the cables holding it all together... But this is so much better.

 

[robert843]

wow thats a crazy shot well as of now looks like the marina is holding

 

[007]

Don't know who took that shot. I grabbed it off their Facebook page after another guy who slips their texted it to me. Crazy amount of water out there!

 

[buckbuck]

I just read they closed parts of I55 and I44. That is going to have some major impact.