The muddy river rose and rose on Wednesday as officials worried about what would happen next. Some feared the hellbent Mississippi could encroach on Kaskaskia, although levees remained structurally sound throughout the day.
“History is in the way of this flood,” said Marc Kiehna, the Randolph County chairman.
Locals still talk of 1973, when the river robbed the town of nearly half its residents. They remember 1993, when it took even more. And now, with a population hovering around 14, they worry it could drop further.
“We are very worried if we reach the original crest that was predicted it may do the levee in,” Kiehna said. “We don’t want that to happen.”
Kiehna said this flood had come with less warning than in 1993, when the area had weeks to prepare.
But crest predictions were lowered on Wednesday from the original projections, causing some to hope that the levees will hold, leaving Kaskaskia dry. The river is now expected to crest in the area this weekend at levels lower than 1993.
“Right now, the structural integrity of the levees is not in question,” said Larry Willis, Randolph County’s emergency management director.
Willis said the area’s levee districts met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday morning.
“The consensus was the levees are holding and they are optimistic,” Willis said.
The changing course of the Mississippi transferred Kaskaskia to the Missouri side of the Mississippi in 1881. Today, residents can enter Kaskaskia by land only through Missouri.
St. Mary, Mo., the nearest town, was largely empty on Wednesday as the water lapped over the road to Kaskaskia. Water covered Second Street, which fronts the small town’s post office. About the only sound that could be heard was that of a barking dog.
Zenon Duda, who operates an artist studio near the entrance to Kaskaskia from St. Mary, said he was in Chicago over the Christmas holiday and returned Sunday evening.
“There was a lot of activity, and semis coming toward the mainland hauling grain out,” Duda said.
Kaskaskia is known for its fertile, flat land, which makes it excellent farm ground.
Emily Lyons, who was born in Kaskaskia and owns a farm there, said precautions have been taken if Kaskaskia floods.
“Our biggest evacuation was at the church,” Lyons said Wednesday. “Many artifacts are 300 years old, so we’ve already moved them.”
Immaculate Conception Church in Kaskaskia is a tourist destination. It was heavily damaged in 1993, but restoration efforts have kept it in good shape.
The town also houses the “Liberty Bell of the West.” The bell was given to Kaskaskia in 1741 by King Louis XV of France. The bell rang on July 4, 1778, when frontiersman George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia from British forces.
The small territory, now referred to as Kaskaskia Island, remains part of Randolph County in Illinois.
On Wednesday, the Chester, Ill., Bridge (Missouri Highway 51) into Randolph county just south of Kaskaskia was closed.
Just upstream, other historic sites remain under threat. Prairie du Rocher, an historic French settlement town also in Randolph County, was evacuated. High water closed three state historic sites in the county: Fort de Chartres, Fort Kaskaskia and the Pierre Menard Home.
Willis said sandbagging efforts were ongoing there.
But Willis said that as of Wednesday afternoon the river remained below levels that would top the levee.
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