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RAUNER: DCEO funds possible for flood recovery

Posted January 01, 2016 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

As floodwaters recede, thoughts will turn to how to pay for the "Flood of '15."

During media availability at the Randolph County Courthouse on New Year's Day, Gov. Bruce Rauner - who toured flood-affected areas in the county earlier in the day - said there is a possibility some limited state funds could be freed up to help impacted communities.

"Illinois has never really had significant pockets of money to support from natural disasters," he said. "We just never had that. Obviously now, things are even tighter with no budget and a major deficit.

"That said, there are some resources through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to help certain businesses impacted and other support. We are going to explore, through DCEO, we may be able to bring some financial assistance to certain communities."

David Holder, Randolph County Board commissioner and budget director, told the Herald Tribune during the governor's visit that the $300,000 in contingency funds the county included as part of its fiscal year 2016 budget could be used for flood-related costs.

Board Chairman Dr. Marc Kiehna said the flood could make the county available for federal help as well.

"I've confirmed this with the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers administrator who was there at Prairie du Rocher that this could open up a line item in the federal budget for us to get money to help with our levees," he said. "So, we're supposed to have a meeting on (Jan. 28) at Lisa's in Prairie du Rocher.

"Matt Rice, from (U.S. Senator Mike) Bost's office, has directive from me to tell us about how we can access that line to get money to work on our levees."

The cost of the flood goes beyond damage assessments. Any closure of the Chester Bridge has a major impact at Gilster Mary-Lee, severing the vital link between the company's facilities on both sides of the Mississippi River.

"It means a great deal because we have about 500 employees who either live on the Missouri side and work in Illinois or on the Illinois side who work in Missouri and they have to get back and forth every day," said Don Welge, president of Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. "What was 15 miles is now 200-and-some miles."

The bridge closed last Tuesday, the first time since the Great Flood of 1993 that it had been closed due to flooding. According to local officials, the bridge closed twice for a total of 68 days, finally reopening for good in September of that year.

"We have no anticipated opening date at this time," said Nicole Thieret, District Communications manager with the Missouri Department of Transportation's Southeast District office, in an emailed response to the Herald Tribune on Saturday. "Crews continue to monitor the situation and will open the bridge as water recedes."

Welge said Gilster-Mary Lee was helping with employees' gas costs, but the concern was additional fuel for its trucks.

"We're helping the employees a little bit with their gas money, but still, it's very expensive to them and it's very expensive to us with our trucks," he said. "Because we have to run those 18-wheelers an extra 100 miles versus going straight across the bridge."

Welge also noted that floodwaters had caused the closure of two Ardent Mills plants - Chester and Alton - that help supply the company with flour.

"Ardent Mills has taken every precaution to safely prepare the two facilities for these conditions," said Ardent Mills spokeswoman Mary Ann Strombitski in a statement. "The company also continues to coordinate with customers to ensure that orders are fulfilled from our network of mill locations.

"Both the Chester mill and the Alton mill are down until waters recede."

While the full business cost and impact may not yet be known, it won't compare to the flood of 1993.

"This (flood) was much faster, but I think it will go down faster on the good side," Welge said.

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