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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 27 Juli 2022

Record rainfall causes widespread flooding in St. Louis area

meteorologist Marshall
Pfahler said a storm that
moved into the St. Louis area
around midnight that stalled
and kept pouring water over
the same relatively narrow
band.
"You have this swath of up
to 10-inch amounts, and a
county or two south they had
a trace or even less," Pfahler
said.

The remarkable rainfall fol-
lowed a period of extended
(AP) — Record rainfall more than 11 inches (28 cen- Louis region were busy with same general area after flood- drought in the region. The
caused widespread flash timeters) of rain in parts of water rescues. A section of waters made it into houses. ground was rock-hard before
flooding across the St. St. Charles County and up Interstate 70 was closed in St. The fire department said on Tuesday morning and Pfahler
Louis area early Tuesday, to 10 inches (25 centimeters) Peters, and many other road- Twitter that six people and six said that may have played a
closing multiple roadways elsewhere in the St. Louis ways were flooded. Some ve- dogs were rescued by boat, small role in the flash flood-
and prompting rescues metropolitan area. hicles were completely sub- while 15 others declined to ing. A bigger factor, he said,
from vehicles and homes. merged. The Missouri State leave their homes. was that the storm hit a
By 8 a.m., 8.3 inches of rain Highway Patrol on Twitter metro area with a lot of con-
There were no immediate had fallen at Lambert Airport, urged drivers to avoid I-70. In the St. Louis County town crete and asphalt, rather than
reports of injuries to people, demolishing the previous Some motorists took to social of Brentwood, residents were grassy areas that could absorb
but several puppies drowned daily record of 6.85 inches media to report being strand- forced to evacuate when Deer the moisture more readily.
when water got into a build- set Aug. 20, 1915, when rem- ed for several hours. Creek overflowed. Rising
ing at Stray Paws Adoptables, nants of the Galveston, Texas, waters also threatened homes While the St. Louis region
a stray dog rescue operation hurricane moved north to St. At one point, sections of in- in Ladue, one of the wealthi- got the worst of it, other plac-
in St. Peters. Firefighters Louis. Forecasters expected terstates 64, 55 and 44 also est cities in Missouri. es were soaked, too. The cen-
in boats were able to rescue Tuesday's rain to wrap up were closed in the St. Louis Flooding was so bad that the tral Missouri town of Mexico
other dogs from the building. by late-morning, but more area. iconic Gateway Arch closed received more than 6 inches
Damage across the St. Louis storms were likely through In the city of St. Louis, the for the day. of rain. Similar rainfall to-
region was widespread after a the rest of the week. fire department rescued tals were reported in parts of
massive downpour dropped Firefighters across the St. people from 18 homes in the National Weather Service southern Illinois.

Savannah port breaks cargo records amid import surge

(AP) — The Port of Savan- nine unplanned ships carry- terminal. Late last year, the to keep operating into 2023.
nah saw record-breaking Still, roughly 40 ships were ing roughly 25,000 container port authority accelerated a
cargo volumes this past sitting at anchor offshore units of additional cargo. $150 million expansion that While inflation has meant
fiscal year amid a surge in Tuesday waiting to transit the "We do anticipate the volume increased space for storing higher costs for construction
imports and West Coast Savannah River and unload at tapering off toward the end cargo containers by 25%. projects at the port, so far it
backlogs that prompted the port's overflowing docks. of this year, or slightly earli- doesn't appear to have affect-
shippers to reroute goods Like other U.S. ports, Savan- er," Lynch said. "I believe that The port authority has also ed cargo volumes, said Joel
to the East Coast. nah has been struggling with we have peaked and we're on been using four inland sites Wooten, the port authority's
a flood of imports shipped in the downhill side of this." in different areas of Georgia board chairman.
The Georgia Ports Author- containers, giant metal boxes to temporarily store cargo "Looking forward, we're
ity said Tuesday that docks used to transport retail goods Despite the added cargo vol- and free up space at Savan- thinking that in six to nine
in Savannah handled nearly from consumer electronics to ume, the Port of Savannah nah's container terminal. months, we're going to see a
5.8 million container units frozen chickens. Following a has managed to keep con- Lynch said those "pop-up" slowdown" related to infla-
of imports and exports in the slump after the coronavirus tainers from piling up on its container yards are expected tion, Wooten said.
fiscal year that ended June 30. pandemic struck in 2020,
That's an increase of 8% from trade has rebounded and kept
a year ago, when the port ex- booming amid soaring de-
ceeded 5 million container mand.
units for the first time. Lynch said in the past year
that's meant increased traf-
"The growth is stunning," fic from Savannah's existing
said Griff Lynch, the author- customers, plus new business
ity's executive director. from shippers diverting cargo
away from the West Coast
It's also kept the fourth- where ports in Los Angeles
busiest U.S. container port and Long Beach, California,
scrambling to catch up. In have been swamped with
the past year, the Port of Sa- waiting ships.
vannah has hired additional
workers, added equipment The volume of imports com-
and increased its contain- ing into Savannah has more
er yard capacity by about than doubled compared to
25%. And the completion in before the pandemic, Lynch
March of a seven-year, $973 said. The port saw its busi-
million deepening of Sa- est month on record in May,
vannah's shipping channel when nearly 520,000 con-
means ships can carry more tainers units moved across
cargo without waiting for its docks. Last month, Lynch
higher tides. said, Savannah worked in