Creve Coeur Lake Overflows Onto St. Louis Area Highway, But It's Not Lake Of The Ozarks' Fault

MARYLAND HEIGHTS — All lanes of Highway 141 were closed Wednesday in both directions, from Creve Coeur Airport Road to Creve Coeur Mill Road, as Creve Coeur Lake overtopped its banks and water flooded onto the road.

Warren Stemme, president of the Howard Bend Levee District, which manages water in the area, said the district had opened the flood gates on the lake on Monday to lower the water level. But the water was not draining into the Missouri River, he said, because the river levels there were not dropping fast enough.

Between Friday and noon Tuesday, the river level in St. Charles dropped from 34.1 feet to 32 feet. Flood stage in St. Charles is 25 feet.

And Missouri River levels aren’t dropping quickly because water is being released from dams upstream, Stemme said. “It’s extremely frustrating,” he said.

Lake of the Ozarks has been releasing water at a rate of approximately 50,000–60,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) or higher since June 11, with limited use of Bagnell Dam's floodgates. But that flow was matching the output from Truman Dam, which impounds Truman Lake and feeds directly into Lake of the Ozarks. Truman has been more than 30 feet high for weeks, and has been flooded throughout the spring, as the lake—which was built for flood control—held back floodwaters that could have wreaked even more havoc downstream.

But Ameren, which operates Bagnell Dam, said it is doubtful the release of water into the Osage River, which feeds the Missouri River, was to blame for Creve Coeur's woes — because water levels are dropping on the Missouri.

“The simple answer is no,” said Ameren spokesman Brad Brown.

Ameren reduced its release rate to 50,000 cfs on Monday morning, after running at around 60,000 cfs for around five days.

Between Friday and Tuesday, levels in Hermann and Washington dropped nearly two feet, according to the National Weather Service.

Stemme said he hopes to talk with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about future flood management tactics.

“This could have been coordinated better. That’s a discussion we need to have,” Stemme said.

Corps spokeswoman Sue Casseau told the Post-Dispatch that the agency has made it a priority to notify people about the release of water from the various dams it manages.

"Everybody has too much water," Casseau said.

She added that the decision to open the levee district's gates was not a Corps decision.

"Sometimes it's a matter of the best laid plans just don't work," she said of the levee district's actions.

Missouri Department of Transportation spokeswoman Shaunda White said reopening Route 141 likely will depend on whether the area receives more rainfall.

Maryland Heights Mayor Mike Moeller said the city was aiming to open the road by Thursday morning. City and levee district workers on Wednesday were building small berms out of gravel on each side of 141 to hold back floodwater. They were pumping water out of the street and median and dumping the water on the other side of the berms.

Moeller said the last time 141 had closed there because of flooding was during the Great Flood of 1993.

Meanwhile, MoDOT was recommending alternate routes such as Highways 94 and 364, and Interstate 270.

Colter Peterson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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