Missouri County Maps

Widening Missouri River, reducing risk, key to flood control

From his fourth-floor cubicle next to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' emergency operations center in downtown St. Louis, engineer Matt Hunn keeps an eye on the Missouri River. Using graphs, maps, phone and email, Mr. Hunn serves as one of the region's chief flood fighters.

Lately, he's been busy.

Every day, he and numerous other state and federal officials from several agencies map out a plan to fight what is quickly becoming the historic flood of 2011.

Just don't call it the "Great Flood," Mr. Hunn said. "There's nothing great about it."

To engineers like Mr. Hunn, floods provide an important data point. Each one is different from the last, responding to constantly changing variables. Some are out of our control; others are not.

After the 1993 flood that wreaked havoc in this region, Mr. Hunn remembered a great hue and cry for better flood-control measures across the Missouri River basin. But the energy dissipated as the water receded.

"From my perspective, you've got a two- to four-year window," Mr. Hunn said. "People forget."

That is why now is the time, as the floodwater still is high in the northern basin and is heading our way, to begin a serious discussion about improving the flood-control measures and the overall management of the multi-state Missouri River basin.

River historian Robert Kelley Schneiders , author of "Unruly River: Two Centuries of Change along the Missouri," endorses the concept of "democratizing" Missouri River management.

"I think the river can be a lot more than it is right now for a lot more people," Mr. Schneiders said.

The National Academy of Sciences agrees. In a 2002 report examining Missouri River issues, the academy criticized basin states for being unable to resolve their differences and adopt a system-wide approach to river management that balances competing interests.

That, too, is the concept behind our "One River, One Problem" approach. The 2011 flood is telling us that the corps, under congressional direction, must do a better job of reducing the impact of flooding. To the extent that the corps is following an outdated Master Manual, that's a problem that needs to be addressed.

How do we get there?

Based on our conversations with veterans of river management debates over the past couple of decades, we offer three suggestions as a starting point: Widen the river, reduce risk and put navigation in its proper context.

St.Charles County Unemployment Down, Industries Optimistic - St ...

“You put in so much effort and work trying to go to the interviews and they never call you back. Or you just keep calling every now and then and bothering them, but they still won’t call you for the interview. But they say they’re hiring. I don’t know why they put it on there that they’re hiring if they aren’t going to hire.”

According to the Missouri Department of Economic Development, about 7.6 percent of St. Charles County residents claimed to be unemployed last May. “We are seeing some real positive indicators with some of our manufacturers,” Holt said. “We don’t have anybody hiring 30, 50 people, but we do have people that are starting to hire a half dozen or whatever. And they’re starting to talk positively about [how] they think they’re going to be hiring more in the next 6 to 8 months. So we are seeing those jobs come back.” “It’s been a tough couple of years. We are seeing things start to turn around here,” Holt said. “We’re making some positive progress. We feel good about that. We’re kind of leading in a lot of ways for the metropolitan area, but I don’t think any of us are satisfied with where we are. Both from the business perspective and the employee perspective.” [["validates_presence_of",{"message":"Please enter your email address."}],["validates_length_of",{"too_long":"Your email address must contain between 5 and 100 characters.","maximum":100,"allow_nil":true}],["validates_email_format_of",{"message":"Your email address is not properly formatted. Mind giving it another shot?"}],["validates_uniqueness_of",{"message":"The email address you entered is being used by another member. Please try a different address.","client_can_validate":true,"exists_url":"/users/exists?email="}]] [["validates_presence_of",{"message":"Please enter your password."}],["validates_length_of",{"too_short":"Your password must contain between 4 and 40 characters.","too_long":"Your password must contain between 4 and 40 characters.","allow_nil":true,"minimum":4,"maximum":40}],["validates_format_of",{"message":"Your password may contain only letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens. No emoticons, please. :p","with":["^[a-zA-Z0-9\\_\\-]*?

The Missouri yearbook of agriculture, ... annual report

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Map guide to the U.S. federal censuses, 1790-1920

The American journal of science

The revised statutes of the state of Missouri, 1919, to which are prefixed the Declaration of Independence, Washington's farewell address, Constitution of the United States, annotated and indexed, act of Congress for the formation of a state government by the people of the territory of Missouri, ordinance of the convention assenting thereto, with the Constitution of the state of Missouri, annotated and indexed, and to which are appended laws of Missouri of limited application, and laws of the United States relating to authentication of laws and records, fugitives from justice and naturlization of aliens, together with forms applicable to the laws of Missouri : revised and promulgated by the Fiftieth General Assembly