East St. Louis holds town hall meeting on flooding updates as residents still displaced
About 40 people gathered at East St. Louis City Hall on Wednesday evening for a town hall meeting for the city to address residents’ concerns about flooding recovery efforts.
However, most residents said the meeting didn’t thoroughly address their immediate worries.
“A couple of my neighbors (and myself), we have nowhere to go,” said Marcus Harris-Pride, who lives on Terrace Drive, during the meeting. “We have no food, no nothing, so what is the city going to do?”
On July 26, up to 12 inches of rain caused severe flash flooding in the St. Louis metropolitan area and southwestern Illinois. The East St. Louis neighborhood on Terrace Drive and Mary Avenue was among the hardest-hit areas in the metro-east. Since then, residents in the neighborhood have repeatedly expressed their frustration with the pace of the city’s recovery efforts.
Sharon Franklin also lives on Terrace Drive. Her home is condemned and she bounced from different hotels to a friend’s house since the flooding occurred. She said some of her questions were answered during the meeting, but she said she’s still struggling to provide for her children and worries about her next steps.
“This has displaced them in their mind and heart ... I don’t know what I can do anymore to say everything is going to be OK,” she said. “I don’t know what I can do anymore.”
Cassandra Carpenter-Coates, another resident who lives on Terrace Drive, said her home is infested with mold. She said Tuesday was her last night to stay at an O’Fallon hotel because she couldn’t afford to pay for an additional day.
“I thought I was going to hear something about a place to stay,” Carpenter-Coates said. “Me and my 10-year-old son are literally outside. They’re not addressing the issues of citizens that are homeless. We can’t go back to our homes.”
Although the city didn’t directly address those concerns, East St. Louis City Manager Carlos Mayfield said it is still working on meeting those long-term needs for residents, such as ensuring they have a home to return to.
“When the storm took place, it was the mayor and council’s will to ensure we had services for you all,” Mayfield said. “That’s why we partnered with all of these groups and we put the hotels up. Was that a long-term solution? No, it was not, and that’s why we’re asking for everyone to make sure that you get engaged with the 2-1-1 resource services so we can provide those resources for you.”
Requests for more aid
On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a request for FEMA to provide assistance for metro-east residents trying to recover from the flood. U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), along with the Illinois congressional delegation, issued a letter to President Biden on Wednesday in support of Pritzker’s request.
East St. Louis has partnered Community Lifeline, a local nonprofit, and Lowe’s to distribute flooding relief kits and other items for residents. The last day for residents to receive flooding repair supplies is Saturday, when items will be provided from 9 .am. to 11 a.m. Residents must submit this form or call 618-482-2950 before picking up any supplies.
Last week during a special meeting, the city council passed a resolution that will waive building permit fees for residents needing to renovate their homes due to flooding. Earlier this week, St. Clair County Board approved a resolution extending the deadline for property tax payments from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1 due to flooding.
But, as some residents struggled to determine where they’d sleep on Wednesday night, those efforts don’t address their more immediate needs.
“There should have been some housing resources down here,” Carpenter-Coates said. “That would’ve been helpful. This wasn’t helpful. The only thing this made me do was cry more.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
