Rain causes flooding all over East St. Louis, creating headaches for citizens, motorists
Water, water and more water.
Nearly every block of the city of East St. Louis experienced flooding Tuesday due to heavy rain, causing headaches for residents and motorists alike.
In some cases, the water was so high that people couldn’t leave their homes and businesses were shut down.
City Manager Robert Betts was out all day surveying the impact on the city.
“The city of East St. Louis is being inundated by water right now,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “ We are praying the rain will ease up. We have multiple intersections that are flooded out.”
He said 3rd Street and Broadway was flooded out under an underpass. He said motorists should find an alternative route.
Other areas with flooding included these and more:
52nd Street and Ohio Avenue
Interstate 255 at State Street “was inundated with water.”
Bond Avenue around Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and the New York Cleaners.
“There was at least eight to 10 inches of water in the street,” he said. “ It’s above the curb line. I am looking at 52nd and Ohio right now and water is in the people’s yards. The whole intersection right here is not good.”
Betts said the more he gets out in the community during flash flooding, he sees that “ a lot of the water we are taking on is coming off the interstates.”
It floods East St. Louis streets, he said.
Betts said some video he shot shows the water “rolling right down into the low set at Third and Broadway.”
He says he plans to contact the State Department of Transportation to see whether they can “control the surface water coming from the interstate.”
“I plan to ask them if they can come up with a plan to mitigate some of that flooding,” he said. “Otherwise we will be flooding every time it rains.
“Traffic has to be detoured and cars have to be rescued. It’s just a mess, “ Betts said.
He said he plans to ask the state to consider designating the 52nd Street and Ohio Avenue area a “buyout area.”
“I know the people at 52nd and Ohio are starting to give up,” he said. “ …This is the same situation as a month or two ago. Water got all in the peoples’ yard, their basements.. And it’s just a repeat. It really has to be taxing on the citizens.”
Henry Cotton, a former Public Works employee for the city of East St. Louis said he called the Public Works Department and told them he was coming out to help them.
“It’s something that happens and we have to do what we do. I’m retired, but I went out because I love the city of East St. Louis and I care for the citizens,” he said.
Cotton cleared some streets that he knew he could drain.
“The streets were flooded. I took the shovel and cleaned off the storm grates,” Cotton said. “ I was at 22nd and Martin Luther King, the 1400 block of Baugh Avenue, and I went to 16th Street south of State Street and the 1900 block of Missouri Avenue.”
Describing the water he saw, Cotton said,”The water was full across the streets.”
