NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5
Wednesday, July 28,1993
Kansas City next in line for flooding
Flood walls, levies strain against water
The Associated Press
This time, it's Kansas City's turn.
After near-disaster in Des Moines, Iowa, and a still-lingering threat to St. Louis, it now is the folks in Kansas City feverishly shorring up levees and waiting for the water to go down.
Businesses and homeowners in low-lying areas bugged on Tuesday as the Missouri and Kansas rivers bonded in a surge toward record crests, the latest chapter in the inexorable ooze of floodwaters across the Midwest.
The Kansas River, which converges with the Missouri at Kansas City, was expected to crest today at 55 feet — well above the flood stage of 33 feet and close to the top of a 57-foot-high levee. The Missouri was expected to crest overnight at a record 49.5 feet, 17 feet over flood stage and just below the flood walls, which are about 52 feet high.
Kansas City, Mo. Mayor Emanuel Clever went on television Friday
evening to ask citizens to conserve water. The request is still in effect.
"We're asking people to not to wash their car, water their lawns and to take short showers," said Andy Scott of Cleaver's office. "We're not telling anyone not to do anything. We are asking that people use water with conservation in mind."
Area water-treatment plants remained safe Monday above rising river water, but rumors of plants flooding raced through several communities.
In any event, city water customers should conserve water for at least the next week, even if flooding doesn't worsen, said Harry Snider, director of the Kansas City Water and Pollution Control Department.
No crisis exists now, Cleaver emphasized. "If people respond, we can avoid a crisis," he said. If water conservation pleas fail, Cleaver said, the city may have to consider other options. Officials declined to be more specific.
Kansas City, Kan.
No immediate evacuations were ordered in Kansas City, Mo., but about 3,500 people were evacuated Monday night from Armourdale, a low-lying residential and commercial neighborhood in Kansas City, Kan.
across the Missouri.
Employees and homeowners were allowed into the area through a checkpoint until 9 p.m., when emergency closes down the area for the night.
"We've buttoned it down, and we're doing patrols in and out of the area. Nobody is being allowed in until the morning," said Lt. Bill Edwards of the city police. "Everyone is in agreement that as long as we allow everyone in or deny everyone in, that is fine."
Fliers, both in English and Spanish, were handed out to alert people to evacuation routes and the locations of emergency centers.
The flood created a new attraction for numerous gawkers at a park on a bluff overlooking the confluence of the two rivers. More than 50 people watched the rivers rise from a safe distance Tuesday morning. They took pictures and stared through binoculars.
"Everybody's coming to see a sight you don't see everyday. They say it comes around every 100 to 150 years. I say that's second-guessing what God and nature can create," said Marvin Lasik, 63, who has always lived in Kansas City.
He said he saw the flood of 1951. And he said he was disgusted with what he perceived as the government's inaction. "We've got to pressure our government to take care of
St. Joseph, Mo.
Levees were battered but still holding in St. Joseph, Mo., where many of the 6,000 residents of the city's south side had left Monday as a precaution.
The Missouri River began dropping at St.Joseph early Tuesday, but heavy rain overnight farther upstream in southern Nebraska and Iowa could make it rise again.
its people."
About 85,000 residents of St. Joseph and outlying areas remained without running water.
Missouri
Twenty-two people have died in Missouri because of flooding, and damage is estimated at $2.7 billion. Crops losses are estimated at 1.8 million acres. About 19,000 people have been urged to evacuate, and more than 500 square miles along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers are flooded.
Fifty-nine of Missouri's 114 counties and the city of St. Louis have been declared federal disaster areas. Federal public assistance funds have been approved for 13 counties and two cities to help them recover costs of emergency services during the
More than 7,800 people have applied for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
flood.
Des Moines
Water service resumed yesterday to commercial and industrial customers of the Des Moines Water Works, knocked out by flooding July 11 on the Raccoon River, but businesses were told they must conserve.
For the first time in a month, the Mississippi River fell below flood stage Tuesday at Dubuque, Iowa. At dawn, the river had fallen to 16.7 feet; flood stage is 17 feet. Flood gates, levees and other structures built after the spectacular 1965 flood kept the water from causing much damage.
The more than 250,000 people served by the Water Works in and around Des Mones were told their water be safe to drink by early next week.
"Everybody is relieved, whether it's the man on the street or the people in charge of flood control," said Robert Gooch, the flood emergency management director in Dubuque. "It's the beginning of the end."
State, federal help
Kansas Gov. Joan Finney toured
Kansas City, Kan., today and estimated 3,500 people had been evacuated from the city's Armourdale area. She said that raises to 7,000 or 8,000 the number of people evacuated in her state.
She later visited a site where sandbags were being filled at a shopping center. Among the volunteers there was James Elder, 38, a prison inmate from Topeka who was helping out.
Meanwhile, Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan met with congressional leaders in Washington today to urge quick action on federal disaster relief for Missouri and other states with flood damage.
Carnahan is among six Midwestern governors in Washington to plead the case for disaster relief. Also attending are the governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
President Clinton met with the governors to push the stalled bill along even as a new surge of water on the Missouri and Kansas rivers was rising to a crest at their confluence between the two Kansas Cities.
The House passed a $3 billion emergency spending bill to provide disaster relief for victims of flooding in the Midwest. The Senate will try to complete work on the legislation before Congress leaves town late next week on its summer recess.
ACLU challenges Clinton's gay policy
BRIEFS
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A civil liberties group today launched the first legal challenge to President Clinton's policy on gays in the military, arguing it violated the Constitution's most valued principles.
The central promise of our Constitution is that American citizens should be judged according to their abilities, not their skin color, their
Rebels bomb U.S. embassy in Peru
gender or their sexual orientation," said William Rubenstein of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Associated Press
"We have one simple goal with this lawsuit — to force the military to safeguard this principle for lesbian and gay Americans," he said.
Last week, Clinton announced his new policy, which permits gays to serve in the military if they do not reveal their sexual orientation.
LIMA, Peru — Maoist rebels detonated a car bomb outside the U.S. ambassador's office in Lima, Peru early yesterday seriously wounding two Peruvian guards, police said. A man described as a rebel was shot to death at the scene.
The 6 a.m. blast shattered windows, splintered window frames and chipped concrete in the front of the
four-story building, located on a burgundy downtown avenue.
Police said the rebels pushed a van loaded with 330 pounds of dynamite toward the building before escaping. The explosion set off a fire and destroyed an armored personnel carrier in front of the building.
The only American inside the building at the time the bomb went off was a U.S. Marine security guard, and he was not injured.
"It's terribly insensitive. It's like someone laughing at a funeral," said William Kunstler, attorney for convicted killer Robert Nelson Drew
HOUSTON — As long as he can remember, Judge Charles J. Hearn has put a happy face on his signature in hopes of brightening someone's day. After he signed a man's execution date with his usual flourish, he provoked an outcry.
Judge's happy face signature offends
The Associated Press
Hearn, 62, said Tuesday he meant no disrespect. His driver's license is signed with a grim or are his house keys. He also this on court documents for years.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's a good signature. You've got to be a happy person. We've got too many people walking around with grim looks on their faces."
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