Tiny town braces for potential flood

By Mike Owens

SILEX, MO (KSDK) -- Neighbors around this tiny Lincoln County town is keeping an eye on the Cuivre River as the rains continued all day Thursday.

John Thompson has spent the late afternoon driving from looking at the river, to checking on Mill Creek. The two tributaries of the Mississippi bracket the town, and last year, the Cuivre walloped Silex after the remains of Hurricane Ike rolled through the area. The town was quickly engulfed in water, prompting a buyout of parts of the low lying town, with many homeowners planning to move up a nearby hill to safer ground.

Emergency management officials are warning that the Cuivre will go more than eight feet above flood early Friday morning, and that prompted some concern in Silex.

At Baragiola Hardware and Lumber, employees are busy moving valuable lumber and other items to higher spots on the lumberyard lot. Last year, the lumber yard was under eight feet of water in some spots, with many watermarks still on the sides of buildings.

Mike Simpson at Baragiola says he hopes it doesn't flood, but they'll be ready if it does.
Thompson, the amateur river watcher, says the rivers north and west of Silex don't appear to be overflowing.

However, south of Silex, at Highway H and the Cuivre River, the road is closed, and further south, at Highway 61 and the river, the river is out of it's banks, and flooding nearby agricultural land.