The recent rains have rising tides. A friend of mine sent the following frazzled missive this morn:

“… been busy and intense here… Spent two days moving everything under the house and in the shed, up to my porches… full now of STUFF…. STUFF… everywhere… water is 5 feet deep now under the house… expected crest… I hope not over right under the floor boards… I hope… very very close…. what a mess… could come inside… questions about the exact final height…. here… hope not….. talk to you later… ” [all ellipses in the original]

His house is on the Meramec River. More on it today than usual. He also lives just across that river from the Times Beach community of 1980’s dioxin fame. Certainly washed clean, by now.

His hope, you may have gathered, is that the flood peaks before it rises above his floor boards. Right now, the issue is in question. This may be a new record flood level in the area, and his house was only built on 100 year flood stilts.