Flooding hits Missouri

Water came in everywhere, and it took a lot with it. To the residents of the St. Louis western suburbs, the remnants of Hurricane Ike seemed like more than just a storm. This was a flood some had not seen in thirty years, but will be remembered for much longer.

Sunday was a day off for me. After having worked an extra long day covering the Missouri vs Nevada game in Columbia, Mo., I was awoken the following morning by hard rain on the four skylights in my apartment’s ceiling. Around 10:20 AM I received a call from my assignment editor, asking weather I was willing to work on my day off.

“The city is floating away,” he said.

I immediately agreed. My portfolio is lacking any good “spot news” images. I probably would have spent the day working on applications for internships and jobs, but this was more important.

I called one of the other photographers who was also covering the flood, Robert Cohen. He directed me to an intersection in Brentwood, a suburb, less than 10 minutes away from my place. I grabbed my two issued Canon cameras and got in my car.

I immediately came across obstacles.

Roads were blocked everywhere. Either by police cars, road barriers, or feet of water. I currently live in Webster Groves, which borders a few other suburban towns along Deer Creek, a major source of the flooding. I was still trying to find the intersection in Brentwood that Cohen had told me about. I was forced to weave through the maze of suburban streets. I found myself lost in no time.

I decided to just stay close to where the river should be. I’ll find my news there.

By the time I was starting to take pictures, the flood waters had crested. People had given up on their homes and cars. Now they all watched and waited.


Canon 1D Mark 2 N with 17-35mm f2.8, 100 ISO, f2.8 at 1/1600 of a sec
One of the first people in the water I came across was a man from the local gas company who had come to these condominiums. He had been ordered to shut off their gas lines. Without any protective clothing, he walked straight into the buildings basement in search of the shut off valve.


Canon 1D Mark 2 N with 17-35mm f2.8, 640 ISO, f2.8 at 1/8000 of a sec
I continued to make my way around the creek, finally arriving in Brentwood at the intersection I was trying to find. There was one business already trying to clean up. This tire shop had sustain only a few inches of water.


Canon 1D Mark 2 N with 17-35mm f2.8, 100 ISO, f2.8 at 1/3200 of a sec
Down the street, huge tractor tires littered the sidewalk. They had been dragged blocks away from the store where they came from. Lumber and other warehouse inventory had floated for nearly a mile down-stream.

So far, all I had covered was the business side or the storm. Waters had nearly receded entirely. Now I needed the home element. I had spent the past few hours driving around making images of families waiting. Now they were getting in their homes and assessing the damage.

I grabbed some food on the way back to the Deer Creek area, only to find all my Canon Camera batteries were dead. So I swung by my apartment and grabbed my personal Nikon cameras.

I returned to a street where at least half the block had a few feet or more of water inside the homes. One of the house’s lawn was covered in damaged furniture, books and carpet. The home was occupied by an elderly couple and one of their sons. The family let me in and that’s where I stayed for a few hours.


Nikon D3 with 12-24mm f4, 200 ISO, f4 at 1/320 of a sec
The grandmother and her daughter-in-law were debating weather or not to keep the flood-damaged bible. The grandmother decided to keep it.


Nikon D3 with 12-24mm f4, 100 ISO, f4 at 1/100 of a sec
The books had swelled so much with flood water, no one could pull them out of the shelf.


Nikon D3 with 12-24mm f4, 4000 ISO, f4 at 1/160 of a sec
After stripping out all the carpet and padding from the living room, it was the grandson’s job to clean out the residual dirt and water with the shop vac.

A little bit later I found my way into the grandparent’s bedroom. This was a touchy situation because this was their personal room with the most valuable family pieces. Few which were spared. I watched as the grandmother and her daughter dragged soggy items, piece by piece, out of the bedroom closet. Future Christmas presents, clothes and old bills were now damaged and destroyed.


Nikon D3 with 12-24mm f4, 3200 ISO, f4 at 1/30 of a sec
Later, they came across the birth certificates and house deed, all damaged by the water.


Nikon D3 with 12-24mm f4, 3200 ISO, f4 at 1/60 of a sec
The grandfather was cleaning too. But he would take a step back and just watch every now and then. I do not think I ever saw him without a cigarette in hand. Something to deal with the stress, I imagine. They had no flood insurance.

At about this point I had already worked more than a full shift and people back in the newsroom needed my images for the Web site and the next day’s paper. I headed home and transfered what I had to the photo desk.

Today I went into the office at my usual shift start time of 10:00 A.M, tired from yesterday’s long day. I was immediately turned around to go find more images of the effects of the flood. David Carson, a fellow photog, had stepped in as the assignment editor for the day. He told me that I needed to take the day to work on finding a good spot new image.

“News gets jobs, “ he said, refereeing to the gap in my portfolio.

I followed up on ever house I had stopped by the day before. But I needed to find something new. I had been in contact with a writer who directed me to an apartment park in Brentwood which had been hit hard apparently. That was an understatement.


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2
A couch, which had floated to the ceiling of an apartment living room, took out the window and most of the wall when the receding waters rushed out. Below the couch is his 60-inch LCD television.

The resident, a 27-year old Texas native, had just arrived back in St. Louis after visiting his family in the Lone Star State for the first days of Hurricane Ike. He said his family was not really hit at all, just some rain. He came home to find his apartment destroyed.


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2
I had never seen the effects of a flooding so close. I was surprised to find that after a flooding, not everything stays wet for very long. Furniture eventually dries out. What the flood leaves is dirt and mud. Anything no taken by the flood waters, is covered in a thin film of dirt from the nearby creek.


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2

Thankfully I can say I have never experienced a natural disaster so closely. I was only 4 years old in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake and our house was fine. I selfishly hope I only have to experience these events on the backside of my viewfinder, and not find myself in front of the lens.