1993 Summer Flood

We moved away from the Peoria river to avoid floods, and it's worked pretty good so far because now we live on a hill. But when there's a big flood in town, it affects everyone. Our water is shut off because Alton's water treatment plant has been breached by river water. We are buying bottled water to drink and collecting the water from our air conditioner for bathing and flushing, so we'll be OK. At least our house isn't threatened by the river, for which we are very thankful. But much of downtown Alton is along the river, so we joined other volunteers to spend hours in the sun, sand-bagging. We met up with Henry and Shirley Vassar there. There wasn't much time to visit, but Shirley brought her camera to capture the moment. 

Unfortunately on August 1st, Alton lost the battle. The river crested at 42.7 feet (21.7 feet above flood stage). Nearby Grafton went under also, at 38.2 feet, which is 20.2 feet above their flood stage.