
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993                   TAG: 9307300052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS                                LENGTH: Short

SANDBAGS MUST HOLD TILL FLOOD POLICY STARTS

The Mississippi River doesn't crest here until next week, but even people as prepared as Ed Macarthy - whose home is surrounded by an imposing 12-foot wall of sandbags - are fearing the worst.

The retired firefighter paid $500 for a government-backed flood insurance policy that goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, just a day before the river is expected to reach a record crest.

"I'm losing my optimism," Macarthy said Thursday. That from a man who is the last person in his neighborhood near the River Des Peres, which is swelling from Mississippi overflow.

All across this city of 400,000, as a menacing surge of water heads down the Missouri River on a collision course with the Mississippi, people are worried.

Forecasters predict the Mississippi will hit 48 feet, 18 feet higher than flood level and a foot above last week's record crest. The city's main flood wall is 52 feet high, but already is leaking in one section.

In the northern part of St. Louis, heavy equipment growled all day and all night as workers reinforced the main flood wall, the only thing standing between the Mississippi and a vast industrial area.

by CNB