The city of De Soto took a potential major step forward in flood management last month with the installation of a stream gauge that can provide greater advance warning of flooding on the Joachim Creek.
The U.S. Geological Survey, a federal agency that monitors waterways at hundreds of locations across the country, installed the large stainless-steel box at the eastern end of the pedestrian bridge that crosses the creek just north of Walther Park. The solar-powered gauge takes around-the-clock measurements of the depth, volume and speed of the water flowing in the creek.
“It takes a reading about every 15 minutes,” said Paula Arbuthnot, co-director of Citizens for Flood Relief, a community organization working with an inter-agency effort led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop a floodplain management plan for the Joachim Creek watershed. “It not only measures the (depth), it also measures the speed.
“And that speed is important. That starts to tell (planners), on days when we haven’t had a lot of rain, what is the normal flow, (to create) a seasonal baseline. The water level you’re getting in January may be a lot different in July.
“As we go through the fall rainy season, that should probably give us a pretty good run on what’s going to be our worst (weather).”
Arbuthnot said the data on the creek will be compiled over the next several months and delivered to Mark Fuchs, a service hydrologist at the National Weather Service in St. Louis. Fuchs, who also working with the Corps of Engineers flood management study, will then develop a computer model to help predict flash flooding specifically on the Joachim Creek, rather than the more generalized area warnings the Weather Service currently issues – warnings that don’t take into account the current conditions on the creek.
“We’ll have three to four months of data, probably through October,” Arbuthnot said, “and then (Fuchs will) write a program (so) that when the atmosphere is just right – it’s getting extra loaded with more humidity, barometric pressure is increasing, things of that nature – he can start to say, anywhere from six to 12 hours ahead of time, we’re going to get dumped on.”
A Joachim Creek flash flood warning, she said, could be tied into the Code Red Emergency Management notification program offered by Jefferson County 911 Dispatch. Any resident of the county can sign up for the program for free (residents of Festus and Pevely sign up through the respective cities). Code Red transmits alerts to the subscriber’s cell phone.
Such an enhanced warning system would be managed through the USGS regional office in Rolla, which would originate the flash flood warnings and alert emergency management agencies. The improvements won’t happen overnight, however.
“That’s going to be interesting, too, because 911 hasn’t done one of these (very specific alerts) before,” Arbuthnot said. “They know they have to learn, anyway, because the Meramec (River basin) has the same issue. We’re happy guinea pigs.”
The city of De Soto and Jefferson County each will pay $8,350 to fund the new stream gauge for 2018, with the USGS matching that with another $16,700. The city and county commitments rise to $14,625 each in 2019, matching $29,250 in federal dollars, and then the local matches will decline to $3,650 each in 2020 after up-front costs are satisfied.
“The city is grateful to the De Soto Citizens Committee for Flood Relief for all of the work they have put into making the Joachim flood gauge a reality,” Mayor Rich McCane said in a text message.
For real-time data from the new Joachim Creek stream gauge, go to the website at maps.waterdata.usgs.gov/mapper/wateralert and search for site no. 07019500.
Other flood issues
The Corps of Engineers launched its floodplain management plan for the Upper Joachim Creek watershed on Feb. 28 with a public fact-gathering meeting at the De Soto Community Center. It held a follow-up meeting on July 11 in De Soto with participating agencies, including local emergency management and Citizens for Flood Relief.
The inter-agency effort is scheduled to produce a draft report in October and hold a second public meeting in January 2019 for feedback on the draft. A final report, with recommendations on flood management and mitigation projects, is scheduled for March 2019.
The website with updated information on the project is at mvs.usace.army.mil /missions/programs-project-management/joachim-creek.
Meanwhile, hearings are not set to begin until April 22, 2019, for a lawsuit filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court in November 2016 by a group of De Soto homeowners against the city, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission and contractor Juneau Associates Inc. The plaintiffs allege that the city, the commission and Juneau were responsible for damage to their properties in the April 18, 2013, flood, because of the construction of the East Kingston Street bridge.