ST. LOUIS — Rachelle Johnson-Belle moved across from the River Des Peres for the view.
“The scenery that we see. It's beautiful. The animals that we see. We see beavers sometimes,” Johnson-Belle said.
For the last three months, a wall of sandbags has blocked her view.
“It's most definitely an eyesore,” Johnson-Belle said.
The sandbags went up in May to block the rising water from flooding nearby homes along the river. Now, the sandbags are blocking the bike trail Rachele’s family uses.
“My daughter has a hard time riding on the trail because she's still learning,” Johnson-Belle said.
Weeds and other vegetation have started growing in the sandbags.
“It's time to bring them in, come and take them down,” said Bob Marchbanks, who also lives across from the River Des Peres. He is about to put his house on the market, and worries the sandbags will be a turn-off for potential buyers.
“People get worried when you try to sell a house across from a row of sandbags,” Marchbanks said.
But, some say the sandbags are no bother.
“I guess they've been there so long I don't pay attention to them anymore,” said Jo Gaal, who lived through the 1993 flood. As long as they keep water down in that river and not over here. You can't imagine what it was like in ’93.”
St. Louis City’s Director of Operations Todd Waterman said all sandbags will be removed by the end of the year.
“As you know, the Mississippi River remained above flood stage for nearly 4 months. During that time, our Streets Department dedicated an increased number of employees, working more days for longer hours, to ensure the safety of our residents,” Waterman said. “This created a backlog of priority service requests that our crews are now working diligently to address.”
