There are two kinds of levees ...

... those that have failed, and those that will fail.

At least, that's what several billboards and signs say here in Missouri, especially near the flood plains.

Anyone who was alive during the 1993 flood remembers it, with the possible exception of small children. I was ten years old and remember the day the Missouri River finally reached the Huster Road substation and left hundreds if not thousands of homes without power. It was sometime in July of that year, and I remember having to gather candles and flashlights together so we could see at night.

The floods were caused by persistent storms, as well as snow melt from the Rockies flowing into the rivers. The ground just couldn't hold any more water and the rivers began to rise, and rise, and rise some more.

One of the things I've never understood is how people can justify putting up levees everywhere, redirecting the rivers to their own needs without a thought to the fact that you can't control nature. Even if a levee holds, that water will come out somewhere else and destroy some other town.

It sounds like it could happen again, if this news is any indication.

The most frustrating thing, though, is the morons who build their homes and businesses on the flood plains. A flood comes through, the buildings are wiped out, and they just rebuild in the exact same spot. Then they cry that they can't get flood insurance or federal aid to rebuild.

There's one extensive flood plain in Chesterfield, called the Valley. That entire area was under water in 1993, and now it's covered end to end with concrete and buildings. Runoff water can't get into the ground because of the paving, which means that area is looking at a pretty nasty future if we have even half the flooding we did in '93.