������Ƶ

The intense downpour overnight Saturday triggered local flash flooding in low-lying areas, with the worst problems arising in Elsberry and Annada along Highway 79, and Hamburg, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River.

“It is honestly one big mess inside,” said Roger Morris, post commander for the VFW Post No. 9064 on Elsberry’s South Second Street.

He estimated at least 4 feet of water had poured into the building, wreaking havoc on a space that has housed the veterans’ organization since 1971 and has been the venue for many community events.

“There is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done to repair everything,” he said.

The floodwaters scattered furniture, left a slick coating of mud on the floor and watermark stains on the pool tables. The kitchen was damaged, he said, but the food stored in three freezers was taken to the nearby Methodist church, where it was prepared and served to people displaced by the flood, for Sunday lunch.

Other nearby areas received far less rain overnight Saturday, with just a couple of inches or less falling about half a county away to either the north or south, according to the National Weather Service. Nothing was measured in St. Louis, only about 50 miles to the southeast.

“It’s a small bomb — precipitation bomb — over a pretty small area, really,” said Mark Fuchs, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service’s forecast office covering the St. Louis area.

It can be tough to accurately predict exactly where such an all-or-nothing storm might unleash so much moisture.

“It’s very hard to forecast,” said Fuchs. “It’s difficult to precisely say who’s going to get hammered in any one event.”

While he said it’s unusual for a rainstorm to feature “a small bull’s-eye like that, with significant impacts,” it’s not unheard of — especially around this time of the year.

Almost exactly three years ago, the St. Louis area received a record-shattering 9 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, with even more falling in other parts of the region. The storm caused severe flash flooding that swamped hundreds of homes and led to rescues of more than 400 people.

Dangers from flooding are only becoming more pronounced, as the Earth continues to heat up and downpours become more extreme and more frequent.

The flash floods this weekend were caused by swollen creeks, officials said on Monday. The flooding in Elsberry, a city of about 1,900 people, was mostly concentrated along Lost Creek, a small creek south of the community. Roughly 20% of the community was displaced by the flood, said Elsberry Mayor Steve Wilch.

In Annada, a tiny village about 65 miles north of St. Louis along Highway 79 in Pike County, Missouri, the flooding was caused when water toppled the levee along Guinns Creek.

Search and rescue teams from multiple fire departments in at least three counties were deployed to southern Pike and northern Lincoln counties to rescue residents with standing water in their homes or stranded motorists along flooded roadways.

The Winfield-Foley Fire Protection District crews helped evacuate 40 people from homes in Elsberry and an additional 20 from their homes in Annada, said Chief Arron Lee.

“The search and rescue teams worked tirelessly all night, playing a major role in helping make sure that people were brought to safety,” said Wilch, the Elsberry mayor. “This certainly could have been a lot worse.”

No injuries or deaths were reported as of Monday.

Deluge in the dark

The first phone calls came in around 3 a.m. on Sunday, said the Rev. Laura Taylor, pastor at Elsberry’s United Methodist Church.

Search and rescue teams deployed to help bring residents to safety needed a place to take them. Over the next several hours, they arrived at the church, with some came carrying blankets, others with a quickly thrown-together bag of belongings. Some came carrying nothing at all, emerging from their homes with only the clothes they had on.

At its peak, Taylor said the church was housing 30 people, plus providing dozens of volunteers a place to cool off and escape the heat wave that has gripped the region.

As dawn broke Sunday in Elsberry, the church’s fellowship hall was a hive of activity. Church members and other volunteers arrived throughout the morning. Some came to cook breakfast, while others worked to sort through donations of cleaning supplies, clothing and toiletries as they arrived.

Others, Taylor said, were ready to listen, offer words of encouragement and hug their neighbors who had been displaced by the storm.

“These people are grieving,” Taylor said. “They are in shock. They are in despair. They are waking up to something so unexpected that they don’t know what to do.”

The church has been providing hot meals and snacks throughout the day to those displaced by the storm. And Taylor said other churches and faith organizations are also pitching in — the local ministerial alliance has rented a large dumpster, the local Baptist association has brought portable showers and other churches are gathering supplies and donations.

By mid-morning Sunday, the number of people sheltering at the church had dropped to 18. Many of those people who had been at the church had found temporary accommodations with friends or neighbors in Elsberry. Only one person stayed in the shelter overnight on Sunday.

Annada residents were allowed to return home Sunday night.

The St. Louis Chapter of the American Red Cross said Monday it is coordinating with the Methodist Church congregation to provide supplies, shelter, cleanup kits and bottled water to residents.

Community leaders say “an avalanche” of donations had arrived in Elsberry, but more supplies are needed, especially cleaning supplies, box fans, pillows and large trash bags.