As rivers rise, take a look back at the flood of 1993
From the A look back at the Flood of 1993 on the anniversary of its record-breaking day series
When the Mississippi River reached record levels 26 years ago, the overflowing water covered 400,000 square miles and caused dozens of deaths. This week, though, when the river exceeded those levels in parts of the upper Midwest, flooding was mostly limited to open riverfronts and swaths of farmland.
On June 27, 1993, the Mississippi River topped the flood stage in St. Louis. The Great Flood of '93 had officially arrived. All told, the river stayed above flood stage at St. Louis for 147 days. The crest on Aug. 1, 1993, was 19.6 feet over flood stage at St. Louis and halfway up the grand riverfront staircase at the Gateway Arch.
The flood of 1993 officially ended on Sept. 13, 1993, when the Mississippi River fell below flood stage. We searched our archives for the best photos to show the might of the Flood of 1993.
Flood of 1993 flood satellite image
This NASA satellite photo shows swollen rivers in the St. Louis area during the height of the Flood of 1993. See a larger version here.
The Great Flood of 1993: April 15, 1993
Tom Ehlers, a city employee, wades in nearly knee-deep floodwater on April 15, 1993, to remove a barricade under the Eads Bridge on the St. Louis riverfront. Flooding from the Mississippi River already had reached Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard, just east of the Gateway Arch. Photo by Renyold Ferguson
The Great Flood of 1993: April 15, 1993
George Johnson talks with Phil Turner (in the pickup truck) while they wait for a friend at the flood line on Hollywood Beach Road in Arnold on April 15, 1993. File photo by Jerry Naunheim
The Great Flood of 1993: April 18, 1993
A boat owned by Gateway Riverfront Cruises ferries employees of riverfront restaurants and other attractions to their floating businesses on April 18, 1993. Mississippi river waters had covered the levee and Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard. File photo by J.B. Forbes
The Great Flood of 1993: July 3, 1993
Volunteers fill sandbags in the business district of Clarksville, Mo., while floodwater from the Mississippi River approaches the buildings in the background. Clarksville is about 60 miles north of St. Louis. File photo by Scott Dine
The Great Flood of 1993: July 3, 1993
The rain-swollen North River blasts over a levee at Highway 61 near Palmyra, Mo., July 3, 1993. It was one of the state's first levees to fail. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: July 7, 1993
A man pushes a load of sandbags through Clarksville on July 7, 1993. File photo by Scott Dine
The Great Flood of 1993: July 8, 1993
Kim Gillman, his wife, Jeanna, and their dog leave West Alton on July 8, 1993, via the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks — the only way out of town on ground. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: July 8, 1993
Volunteers in Kimmswick work to secure plastic around a sandbag wall that protects the home of Brian Crow (far right) from the town's Rock Creek on July 8, 1993. Leaders of sandbag brigades quickly learned that, with the water likely to stay high, their walls were more durable when kept dry. Photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 8, 1993
Sandbags awaiting duty in Kimmswick on July 8, 1993, to try and redirect the flood waters from nearby Rock Creek around the town. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 8, 1993
Ray Cothern of south St. Louis County takes his dog to higher ground on the rising Meramec River near his home on July 8, 1993. File photo by Ted Dargan
The Great Flood of 1993: July 9, 1993
Reed Bauer, 82, being rescued Thursday, July 9, 1993, by Coast Guardsmen from his home in northern St. Charles County. Bauer had to climb down from his second-floor balcony to get on the boat. He has lived on Dardenne Slough near the Mississippi River for almost 20 years. File photo by L.T. Spence
The Great Flood of 1993: July 10, 1993
A deer swims to safety through the flooded intersection of Highways 94 and 367 in West Alton on July 10, 1993. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 10, 1993
Floodwater from the Mississippi river surrounds grain elevators Friday, July 10, 1993, on the Great River Road at Broadway in Alton. The view is looking north. File photo by Sam Leone
The Great Flood of 1993: July 11, 1993
Floodwater from the Mississippi River closing in on a group of homes on Iffrig Road in St. Peters. One homeowner towed a friend's light airplane (foreground) to his front driveway after the landing strip at the rear of the house was covered with water. Neighbors said much of the flooding occurred early last week when a nearby levee broke. File photo by Wayne Crosslin
The Great Flood of 1993: July 11, 1993
Loretta Goehring hugs Sam Chapman in flood-threatened Kimmswick on July 11, 1993. Goehring was concerned that Chapman could make himself sick hauling his daughter's belongings out of her trailer in the hot, muggy weather. File photo By Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: July 13, 1993
The message that Martin Sontheimer had for his regard of the river rising about his home on Iffrig Road in St. Peters. This photograph, taken July 13, 1993, ran in newspapers worldwide. Sontheimer and his relatives living nearby spent days sandbagging around their homes, and he decided to inspire them. The sandbagging worked. Photo by Sam Leone
The Great Flood of 1993: July 16, 1993
Jay Springer used a johnboat Wednesday, July 16, 1993, to navigate the 3.5 miles of water between Highway 367 and his uncle's home on Cora Island Road near the Mel Price Locks and Dam. Boats offer the only way to get to Highway 367. Nine members of the Springer family — six adults and three children — are living in the house on the top floor. The first floor has several feet of water from the Mississippi River, but the home still has gas and electric service. "It's better than being out in a shelter someplace," said Janice Samples, Herbert Samples' wife. "We have some fun." Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: July 16, 1993
Predictions of a new crest on the Mississippi July 16, 1993 drew hundreds of volunteers to the banks of the River Des Peres, a tributary creek that winds through the city's south neighborhoods and the suburb of Lemay. The volunteers toiled in heat above 90 degrees and stifling humidity to pile more sandbags on the already-saturated soil. File photo by Wayne Crosslin
The Great Flood of 1993: July 17, 1993
President Bill Clinton surveys the damage by helicopter during his visit to the St. Louis area on July 17, 1993. File photo by J.B. Forbes
The Great Flood of 1993: July 18, 1993
Coast Guard officers and Humane Society workers round up cattle on a farm near Alton on July 18, 1993. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: July 18, 1993
Lisa Thess of the Pet Adoption Center of St. Charles unloads one of four dogs rescued Saturday, July 18, 1993, from the rooftop of a flooded home on Highway 94. John Cottle (left) and Terry Lee of the Missouri Water Patrol clutch two puppies that were saved. File photo by Sam Leone
The Great Flood of 1993: July 19, 1993
Sightseers gather on the grand staircase near the Gateway Arch to watch the flooding Mississippi River on July 19, 1993. On Aug. 1, 1993, the day the flood crested, the river rose exactly halfway up the 64 stairs, three feet higher than pictured. The prolonged and historic flood made headlines worldwide. File photo by J.B. Forbes
The Great Flood of 1993: July 19, 1993
South St. Louis' streets runneth over July 19, 1993. As crest predictions rose throughout the summer, brigades of volunteers piled on more sandbags — but the River Des Peres kept rising to top them. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 20, 1993
A woman finds her path on Marceau Avenue in south St. Louis blocked by floodwater on July 20, 1993. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The Great Flood of 1993: July 21, 1993
City worker James Holt wades across a levee break on the River Des Peres July 21, 1993, in a stinging rainstorm the day after the river was supposed to have crested. Mississippi backwater tossed aside a mile-long stretch of sodden sandbags that night in south St.Louis. But that wasn't the worst news: Equally heavy rains upstream would send the river heaving to new records a week later. File photo by Wayne Crosslin
The Great Flood of 1993: July 21, 1993
A field mouse clings to a twig amid floating dead prairie grass on July 21, 1993, on the Riverlands wetlands restoration project near West Alton. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 21, 1993
David Ellis pulls is boat by his home on Marble Street in Arnold about a half mile from the Meramec River on July 21, 1993. The property was ineligible for a buyout after the 1982 flooding, but the government bought the lot next door after 1982. File photo by Wayne Crosslin
The Great Flood of 1993: July 22, 1993
Everett Jones of Portage des Sioux paddles through town on July 22, 1993, on a boat he made using a piece of dock foam that floated up to his house, a piece of plywood and a metal chair. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 23, 1993
Illinois National Guard members reinforcing a sandbag levee Wednesday, July 23, 1993, in Alton. They are on Piasa Street near Broadway. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: July 23, 1993
Jim Lenk peeking into his home in Old Monroe of Thursday, July 23, 1993. The Mississippi and Cuivre rivers broke through a levee. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 25, 1993
In St. Charles County, water takes over several mobile home parks on July 25, 1993. Photo by Odell Mitchell
The Great Flood of 1993: July 25, 1993
Residents of Kaskaskia Island, Ill., carrying one of the stray pigs they found Friday, July 25 1993, along the ruptured levee of the flooded area. Earlier, they saved about 50 pigs from the roof of a building. File photo by Odell Mitchell
The Great Flood of 1993: July 25, 1993
Theresa Gluckhertz embracing her husband, Scott, on Thursday evening, July 25, 1993, as friends helped evacuate them from their home of 13 years in the St. Charles Mobile Home Community. They were among 700 St. Charles County residents ordered to evacuate. Photo by Wendi Fitzgerald
The Great Flood of 1993: July 25, 1993
Dale Westfall tows some of his family's belonging out of the South Shore subdivision in northern St. Charles County, while his wife, Debby, carries 5-year-old Jesse, on July 25, 1993. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: July 25, 1993
Every street in the town of Portage des Sioux is flooded on July 25, 1993. Photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 25, 1993
Frank Micklack stands ankle deep in muck as he and other Kimmswick residents worked feverishly to stay ahead of the water on July 25, 1993. Photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 26, 1993
Coast Guardsman Tom Jasina (left) and Bill Doer on Sunday, July 26, 1993, ferrying Msgr. Donald E. Rau in Portage des Sioux. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 26, 1993
Joan Gust of Portage de Sioux reacting Sunday, July 26, 1993, to news that the Mississippi River will continue to rise and force her to leave her home. "I want to know who the hell's having so much fun that we have to suffer so," Gust said. At left is Paul Vossenkemper, her neighbor. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: July 26, 1993
Residents of Prairie de Rocher, Ill., and volunteers building a rock and sandbag levee Sunday, July 26, 1993, to protect the town from a threatened levee break about three miles away. Photo by Gary Bohn
The Great Flood of 1993: July 27, 1993
Rescuers work to save pigs Monday, July 27, 1993, at a farm about 2 miles south of Chester, Ill. The rescue workers had to cut holes in the roof of the building to get the pigs out. File photo by Sam Leone
The Great Flood of 1993: July 27, 1993
A National Guard helicopter preparing Monday, July 27, 1993, to airlift sandbags to an endangered levee just north of Prairie de Rocher, Ill. File photo by Kevin Manning
The Great Flood of 1993: July 1993
The receding Mississippi reveals its former power in the positions of two tanker trucks near Highway 367 east of West Alton. A farmer had moved the vehicles to what he thought was high ground in July 1993. Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: July 1993
Scientists predicted "above normal" rainfall for the Midwest last year, but nothing in the predictions indicated storms of biblical proportions. This photo was taken in Portage des Sioux during one of the storms in early July 1993. File photo by J.B. Forbes
The Great Flood of 1993: July 1993
Amy Kussman, 12, poses on the roof of her flooded home on the Meramec River in July 1993. File photo by Wes Paz
The Great Flood of 1993: July 1993
An inland sea surrounds a farm in north St. Charles County during the Great Flood of 1993. Even farmers on high ground suffered from the flood because crop diseases, weeds and insects flourished in the soaked soil and moist air. File photo by Wayne Crosslin
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 1, 1993
Water rushes over farm land on Aug. 1, 1993, moments after a breach in the Columbia, Illl., levee. The levee is the white line below the trees. The breach is left of center. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 1, 1993
Highway 40 (Interstate 64) in the Chesterfield Valley is drowned in Missouri River floodwater Aug. 1, 1993, after the failure of the Monarch Chesterfield Levee. Much of the area flooded in 1993 has now been developed into commercial properties. The levee was rebuilt at a higher level. Photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 1, 1993
An aerial view shows widespread flooding in an industrial area in Chesterfield Bottoms on Aug. 1, 1993. This photo was taken the morning after the Missouri River burst through the Monarch levee. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 1, 1993
Water rushes over farm land on Aug. 1, 1993, moments after a breach in the Columbia, Illl., levee. The levee is the white line below the trees. The breach is left of center. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 1, 1993
Water rushes over farm land on Aug. 1, 1993, moments after a breach in the Columbia, Illl., levee. The levee is the white line below the trees. The breach is left of center. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 1, 1993
After losing their farmhouse in north St. Charles, Sherrill and Larry Whorrall moved into a Red Cross shelter in the First United Methodist Church; they were there on Aug. 1, 1993. With them are Travis, 18 months, and Aaron, 3. Photo by Gary Bohn
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 2, 1993
Guard dog Wolf waits for help at Sachs Electric Co. in the Chesterfield valley on Aug. 2, 1993. The Animal Rescue Team was able to rescue the dog. File photo by Jerry Naunheim
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 3, 1993
A powerful wedge of water surging through the Fountain Creek levee Monday, Aug. 3, 1993, about 1 1/2 miles north of Valmeyer. Mississippi River floodwater is at the left of the tree line. Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 3, 1993
Valmeyer Community High School under water Monday, Aug. 3, 1993, after the levee break. The town is south of St. Louis in Monroe County, Illinois, near the Mississippi River. Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 3, 1993
Trucks from the St. Charles Quarry Co. parked on high ground near the Missouri River on Aug. 3, 1993. The quarry is south of Interstate 70. Photo by Scott Dine
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 3, 1993
Inundated homes on Aug. 3, 1993 in a residential area of Valmeyer, a town of about 900 people that was evacuated. Valmeyer last flooded in 1947, before a levee was built. Photo by Scott Dine
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 3, 1993
Marie Wright (right) and her niece, Jackie Wright, 13, and Marie Wright's children wait for help on Aug. 3, 1993, at a shelter for River Des Peres-area evacuees at Cleveland Naval Junior ROTC High School. Marie Wright holds Jonathan, 2, and Jackie holds Amanda, 10 months. File photo by Wes Paz
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 3, 1993
A tail fin of a plane at Spirit of St. Louis Airport sticks out of the floodwaters on Aug. 3, 1993, three days after the Monarch Levee was breached by floodwaters from the Missouri River. The airport control tower is in the background. File photo by Jerry Naunheim
The Great Flood of 1993
An aerial view of two vehicles on an inundated road near Portage des Sioux, in St. Charles County. Floodwater has made travel in the area hazardous. File photo by Wayne Crosslin
The Great Flood of 1993
Two planes, inoperable and used to salvage parts, float into a tree at Spirit of St. Louis airport in 1993. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993
Coast Guard Reserve Petty Officer Richard McComber, making rounds among mobile home residents near Portage des Sioux, checks in with Vance Virgin, Randy Witmore and Sheila Griffith. About 170 Coast Guard reservists helped patrol the St. Louis area during the 1993 flood; they came from as far away as Memphis and Leavenworth, Kan. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 4, 1993
Carol DuFrenne, of Prairie du Rocher, mourns the loss of a hand-built home and new machine shed, after officials deliberately broke a levee to relieve pressure, on Aug. 4, 1993. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 5, 1993
Illinois National Guardsman Brice Springman of Brownstown, Ill., passing a sandbag at the levee on Aug. 5, 1993. Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 5, 1993
A view Wednesday of the sandbagging operation Aug. 5, 1993, at Prarie du Rocher, Ill., where residents joined with strangers to raise the levee in time for Friday's expected crest of the Mississippi River. Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 6, 1993
Keith and Teresa Ham, residents of the mobile home park, returning home Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1993, for the first time since they were forced to evacuate. The couple took the journey in a boat operated by St. Charles firefighter John Oddie. About 265 families lived in the mobile home park. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 8, 1993
A johnboat making its way this week (August 1993) through the flooded Deerfield Village Mobile Home Park in St. Charles. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 9, 1993
Immaculate Conception Church on Kaskaskia Island in Illinois surrounded by floodwater from the Mississippi River on Sunday morning, Aug. 9, 1993. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 10, 1993
A Missouri Highway Department vehicle traveling Monday, Aug. 10, 1993, on flooded Highway 40 in Chesterfield. Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 11, 1993
Alma McKay crying Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1993, over what she saw upon returning to her home in the 500 block of Davis Street, near the River Des Peres and the Mississippi River. She says floodwater destroyed the house she and her husband lived in for more than 40 years. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 12, 1993
Roxanne Cole, Rebecca Hannah, Joshua Hannah and Keith Zimmer, all of Valmeyer, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 1993, at the tent city for flood victims. Post-Dispatch file photo
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 15, 1993
An old photo and a banjo clock top a pile of flood-damaged goods piled on a South Broadway curb in St. Louis on Aug. 15, 1993. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 15, 1993
Jim Countney hefts a damaged piece of furniture onto a pile on Aug. 15, 1993, outside the This N That Shop on South Broadway. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 20, 1993
Alice Davis, a waitress at Orville & Wilbur's Restaurant & Bar in Chesterfield, filmed flood damage on Aug. 20, 1993, at Chesterfield Airport Road. She visited the restaurant to help clean up the flood damage. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 22, 1993
Linda Martinson, comptroller of Trend Manufacturing Co., and Ted Liebig, Trend's president, ride to their offices in Chesterfield Valley in the back of a truck on Aug. 22, 1993. The water was still too high last week for them to go in safely by car. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 22, 1993
Dead vegetation atop a street sign in the Chesterfield Valley on Aug. 22, 1993, served as a mark for the flood. Photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 23, 1993
The confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers during the height of the flooding; picture was dated Aug. 23 1993, but the flood peaked on Aug. 1 in the area. File photo by Odell Mitchell
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 25, 1993
Floodwaters cover Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard on the St. Louis riverfront on Aug. 25, 1993. Water remained two to three feet deep on the street. A boat that broke loose from its moorings hit the leaning cypress tree pictured here. At the height of the flood, only the tree's top showed. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 25, 1993
Lee Kennebeck, 82, took a break on Aug. 25, 1993, from flood cleanup at her home in the 500 block of Hurck Street, in south St. Louis near the River Des Peres. Kennebeck had lived in the house for 46 years. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Aug. 28, 1993
Todd Patterson, a volunteer flood worker from Colorado, suffered from the heat in Lemay on Aug. 28, 1993. Patterson had been cleaning up flood-damaged homes. Emergency Medical Service supervisor Rodney Dreifuss gave Patterson oxygen as co-workers use a blanket to shield him from the sun. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: August 1993
Flooded farms near Valmeyer are part of about 70,000 acres of cropland under water in Monroe County in August 1993. The Illinois town had battled the flood 24 days before the levee broke. File photo by Scott Dine
The Great Flood of 1993: August 1993
Coffins that the Missouri River lifted out of a cemetery in August 1993 in Hardin, Mo., come to rest on flood-damaged Missouri Route 10. The river moved 756 of the cemetery's 1,544 dead. File photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.
The Great Flood of 1993: August 1993
Its covered gangways awash to the roofs, the Alton Belle Casino gambling boat relies on a long, makeshift walkway to one of the city's dry spots in August 1993. Although the boats couldn't cruise, bettors kept the slot machines jingling on the Belle and other are gambling boats. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The Great Flood of 1993: August 1993
Flooded farms near Valmeyer are part of about 70,000 acres of cropland under water in Monroe County in August 1993. The Illinois town had battled the flood 24 days before the levee broke.
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 1, 1993
James G. Mohan, a spokesman for the Defense Mapping Agency, surveyed the flood damage at the entrance to the company's computer area at the agency's compound on South Broadway on Sept. 1, 1993. File photo by Wayne Crosslin
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 5, 1993
Water inches closer to airplanes parked on the highest ground available at Smartt Field in St. Charles County on Sept. 5, 1993. Photo by Renyold Ferguson
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 5, 1993
Ron and Shirley Robertson stand in front of their ruined possessions on Sept. 5, 1993, at their West Alton home. The water was still receding away from the back of their home. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 13,1993
About 200 Arkansas college students came to St. Charles County recently to help with flood cleanup. They are shown along Dwiggins Road in West Alton on Sept. 13, 1993. File photo by L.T. Spence
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 24, 1993
Passer-by Tracey Vorthman on Thursday, Sept. 24, 1993, viewing the Kehrs Mill Road bridge over Caulks Creek, south of Strecker Road in far west St. Louis County. The bridge collapsed Wednesday night. Photo by J.B Forbes
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 24, 1993
Roberta Mathis, carrying her dog Maggie, being helped from a boat on Sept. 24, 1993, by firefighter Darren Moore, left, and Capt. Greg Shuster of the Cedar Hill Fire Protection District. Mathis lives next to the Big River and left when the water rose. She left seven dogs behind. Photo by J.B. Forbes
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 24, 1993
Keith Allison (left) and Allen Shonk walk on Thursday, Sept. 24, 1993, on debris-covered railroad tracks in the Chesterfield Valley. File photo by J.B. Forbes
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 25, 1993
Ranchers herding cattle to safety Friday, Sept. 25, 1993, after the cattle were stranded in floodwater on a ranch near Morse Mill in Jefferson County. The Big River trapped the animals when it overflowed its banks. File photo by Ted Dargan
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 25, 1993
A St. Louis County Highway Department worker used his shirt to protect him from the rain on Sept. 25, 1993. The drizzle made sandbagging difficult near the corner of Fannie and Military roads. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 26, 1993
Residents traveling by boat to inspect their mobile homes, flooded by the nearby Big River, on Sept. 26, 1993. Photo by Odell Mitchell
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 27, 1993
Terry Everhart trying Sunday to row his deck back to his trailer home, which is flooded by the Meramec River, on Sept. 27 1993. Between 80 and 85 trailer homes in the Stonebridge Manor Trailer Park are flooded. The Meramec is expected to rise another 2 feet. Photo by Odell Mitchell
The Great Flood of 1993: Sept. 27, 1993
The Missouri River lapped at the edges of Highway 40 (Interstate 64) in Chesterfield on Sept. 27, 1993, in a view looking west at the entrance to the valley. Much of the valley had been underwater for over a month. Photo by Jerry Naunheim
The Great Flood of 1993: Oct. 1, 1993
Wallace Foster installed electric meters on Oct. 1, 1993, for flood-damaged Chesterfield businesses. "I spend eight hours a day in waders," he said. File photo by Scott Dine
The Great Flood of 1993: Oct. 2, 1993
A view Friday, Oct. 2, 1993, of water still swamping the town of Valmeyer, Ill., which the Mississippi River inundated when it went on its summer rampage. The area has had little relief. File photo by Jim Rackwitz
The town was eventually moved so that it was no longer in the flood plain; Valmeyer now sits above the bluff, with just a few buildings left where the village once was.
The Great Flood of 1993: Oct. 3, 1993
Bruce Gillette (right), a Jaycee from Colorado, ripped out a water-damaged floor in the 8300 block of Alabama Avenue on Oct. 3, 1993. About 150 Colorado Jaycees were working at flood cleanup in the area. File photo by Larry Williams
The Great Flood of 1993: Nov. 18, 1993
Patricia Brown-Temple inspects her Morse Mill home on Nov. 18, 1993, for the first time since the floodwater receded. Her granddaughter, Darrah, 3 (center) and her daughter, Jennifer, 10, accompanied her. File photo by Karen Elshout
The Great Flood of 1993: Nov. 21, 1993
Greg Patton, on Nov. 21, 1993, stares at the remnants of his home, which the Mississippi River ripped apart and dumped in a field in Alexander County, Illinois. File photo by Scott Dine
In this Series
A look back at the Flood of 1993 on the anniversary of its record-breaking day
In 1993, the Mississippi climbed above flood stage downtown in April, settled back and rebounded in June. On July 15, it surpassed its previou…
While Post-Dispatch reporters and photographers scoured the archives and interviewed sources for stories about the 20th anniversary of the Flo…
Another nominee for "Silliest Bill" in the Missouri Legislature.
The levee breach combined the Mississippi and Missouri rivers 20 miles west of where they used to meet.
A quarter century after the disaster, the St. Louis area is just as vulnerable — if not more, according to experts.
Flood risk is expected to continue, given the week's rainy forecasts for St. Louis and regions upstream.
The Mississippi River at St. Louis is now projected to reach its second-highest level on record.