1993 memories come flooding back
June 20th, 2008, 5:31 am · Post a Comment · posted by dgrubaugh
My colleague Sanford Schmidt this week reminded me of a couple of comments made by former Telegraph staff members during the flood of 1993.
One came from then-managing editor Walt Sharp, who likened the catastrophe to “Chinese water torture.” We lingered so long with floodwater that year that it felt like somebody was drip-dripping us to death.
And former Publisher Don Miller said he’d rather go through a tornado than another flood. At least they come and go in nothing flat, he reasoned.
At this writing, it appears that the Great Flood of ’08 is not as great as the Great Flood of ’93, and for that, this newsman is grateful. This year’s floodwater left far more damage and will be remembered by far more people in places like Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa, than it will be in Alton, Ill.
In 1993, the floodwaters hit their peak in August and stayed out of the banks for weeks. In Grafton, the period of flooding, before and after the crest, was an amazing 195 days.
Many of the circumstances in ’93 were the same as they were this year — lots of rain here, lots of rain to the north and harsh winters preceding both.
The big difference this year is the lesser flooding on the Illinois and Missouri rivers, both of which feed into and affect the levels on the Mississippi. In 1993, rains and snows were spread across a much wider area. A second big key was the number of levee breaks on the Missouri side, which gave overnight relief to the levels in places like Grafton and Alton.
I’m proud of our reporting staff and their handling of flood stories this year. They kept above water when they had to — just as the Telegraph staff did in 1993 (and 1995 and 1997).
We’re ready for whatever happens next.
