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Lemay residents see no end in sight as councilman holds flood recovery meeting

There wasn't an empty seat inside as people heard from officials from MSD, area hydrologists that talked about the rain and assistance programs like the Red Cross.

LEMAY, Mo. — It's been weeks, and people who live in Lemay are still overwhelmed by flooding.

But a meeting held Thursday afternoon was meant to show them they are not alone. 

"My goal was to create a forum where people could ask questions and get answers, directly from the source that are going to be involved in what I call the flood recovery," said St. Louis County Councilman Ernie Trakas.

From the beginning, it was surreal for Lemay homeowner Pat Hunt, seeing his street flooded past recognition his home demolished in its aftermath. 

"It's a mess to go through and I wouldn't wish this for anyone," Hunt said.

Thursday, Hunt and his wife Lourdes made their way into their Lemay home for only about an hour.

"We're not even staying here in the house, we're just kind of coming and going, doing some work, cleaning up, cleaning out," Hunt said.

Their home along Idaho and River City Boulevard has no gas and no air conditioning. Their only option is to start over by throwing item after item in the trash.

"The rain, non-stop flooding and everything, it's just a mess," Hunt said.

The only sign of moving forward was the crowded Lemay flooding meeting. Pat and his wife went to get some answers.

"I think everyone's big concern is are we going to keep being flooded out, and are we gonna have to always be worrying about is it gonna flood again, and how bad will it be?" Hunt asked.

District 6 Councilman Ernie Trakas organized it.

There wasn't an empty seat inside as people heard from officials from MSD, area hydrologists that talked about the rain and assistance programs like the Red Cross.

The meeting discussed short-term and long-term impacts.

The short-term impacts included Governor Parson potentially declaring the county a disaster area and allocates funds.

The long-term impacts included possible buyouts of homes that were severely affected.

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