Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990 TAG: 9005180304
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAMILLA COVE, TEXAS LENGTH: Medium
"At this point, we're still hanging in there," said Eugene Hanson, who owns a small store near the base of Lake Livingston Dam and has been watching rising waters get closer and closer.
Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma also coped with continued flooding or braced for more.
Oklahoma's governor dispatched National Guard soldiers to help get feed to stranded cattle. A Louisiana farmer began evacuating his 4,000 alligators to higher ground. And St. Louis prepared for floods from the Mississippi River expected to hit Saturday.
Rivers in Arkansas continued receding following record floods last week, and southern Illinois residents cleaned up from floods Wednesday night.
Flooding has caused at least 13 deaths in Texas and one in Oklahoma in the past three weeks, and millions of dollars in damage. In Texas, 33 counties have been declared eligible for disaster aid due to storms and flooding.
Floodwaters from Lake Livingston, about 75 miles northeast of Houston, are expected to inundate more than 200 square miles along the Trinity River.
An aerial inspection Thursday determined that, except for scattered subdivisions, most of the damage was confined to pasture. Further downstream, the Trinity remained within its banks.
At the dam, operators increased the flow through a dozen floodgates to a record 100,800 cubic feet per second by midday Thursday.
The amount of water released from the dam over the past three weeks would fill the Houston Astrodome 1,200 times, officials calculated.
The most seriously damaged subdivision was Camilla Cove just below the dam, where more than 75 homes were damaged. Roads looked like canals, and the water was at window level in some areas.
About 7,000 people below the dam have been urged for a week to evacuate as floodwaters rose, but only about two dozen had turned up at emergency shelters by Thursday morning, said San Jacinto County Sheriff's Deputy M.E. McGregor.
Many people remained in their homes, many of which are on stilts and reachable by boat, to guard against looting, said McGregor. "So far we haven't had any trouble," he said.
However, sightseers in boats had to be escorted away from Camilla Cove and swift currents at the dam. "Some of these people sure are crazy," McGregor said.
In Missouri, Gov. John Ashcroft declared Jackson County, which includes Kansas City, a disaster area, and promised to seek federal assistance.
Ashcroft flew over a section of Kansas City flooded by the Big Blue River after two days of heavy rain. The area included a trailer park and several small businesses.
"I've been wearing sunglasses for the past two days so no one can see that I'm crying," said business owner David Hall, estimating his losses at $2 million.
by CNB