Businesses assess flood damage, inch toward recovery
"O'Fallon pretty well got clobbered," said Ed Keeven, who owns Emerald View Turf Farm off Highway 79 in O'Fallon, of sod farms in the area.
Keeven says he knows of at least four other sod farms in the Highway 79 area that have lost between 50 and 95 percent of their crop to the flooding. Keeven estimates more than 500 of his 600 acres in O'Fallon were covered by the river.In a good year, Keeven says, the rich, flat soil and irrigation in the river bottom area is a sod farmer's dream. In a flood year, that dream quickly becomes a nightmare.
During the flooding of 1993, Keeven did soil tests. He discovered that the different varieties of grass he grew could last between six and 18 days under five-and-a-half feet of water. But this year, as the water was only three inches deep and clear, the grass fried under the hot sun.
Marinas along the Mississippi River basin battled floodwaters, too. Riverbend Marina was still closed last week as its access roads, Highway C and Highway B, are still flooded. Port Charles Harbor opened Wednesday, but office manager Linda Bingaman said high river waters dating back to early May have hurt business by as much as 90 to 95 percent. Lake Center Marina, too, was affected by flooding.
SOD FARMS IN DURESS
Keeven described the floodwaters as, "fast, quick (to flood) and slow, slow, slow to get off."
The impact of the flood will lead to a two- or three-cent increase in the price of a square yard of sod, which currently runs at 16 to 17 cents. He said St. Charles County suppliers in his area supply nearly all of the St. Louis metropolitan area's sod for athletic fields, home lawns and garden centers.
Keeven has sod farms in Columbia, Ill., and in Jefferson City, from which he can truck in more sod. Others, he said, have to truck it in from out of state, at a cost of $800 to $900 per truck, adding around 10 cents per square yard, or nearly half the cost of the current sod price. Even with his other farms, Keeven said he is getting hurt by fuel prices.
"It's gonna cost us a boatload," Keeven said. He said his competitors in the sod business are hurting, too, and are conscientious about raising prices only as much as is necessary.
Grey Meyer, who owns a different sod farm and an RV storage on Elm Point Road, says since floodwaters are still covering his businesses.
"It's no different than it was two weeks ago," said Meyer, who owns Schaefer Meyer Seed Sod Division 1 Inc. "I still have water up over the sod and the RV storage is still half underwater."
A BAD YEAR TURNS WORSE FOR MARINAS
It was already a slow year for the marina business, with high river levels dating back to May, said Linda Bingaman of Port Charles Marina in St. Charles. Port Charles did not sustain major damage, as Bingaman and her owner brother had a dike built around the main office. They sandbagged for a week to prepare for the flood. One of the buildings had a few feet of standing water, she said, but it was built to sustain flooding and suffered no structural damage.
Last week, she continued to clean the mud from the buildings and lay new gravel as water levels finally receded enough for the river open up to boating traffic. She expects it will be two or three weeks before cleanup is entirely finished.
"We're hoping this weekend a lot of people are out boating," Bingaman said.
Debbie House, who runs Riverbend Marina, said her business has been closed three weeks. With access roads blocking customers, she's not sure how long it will be before her business is up and running again.
