(Photo: Aerial view of flooding in the St. Louis area on June 3, 2019. Credit: KSDK News on YouTube)Near historic flooding from an intense rainstorm and high Mississippi River prompted several St. Louis businesses to rent temporary boilers. Flooding shut down Ashley Energy’s nearby steam plant, which normally provides heat and electricity.
The water caused a force main sewer to fail downtown on Saturday, which shut down a pump station and created standing water that flooded the steam plant, KMOV4 reported. As a result, a dozen downtown businesses were without hot water on Monday.
Currently several St. Louis hotels are crowded for the Stanley Cup Final and Cardinals-Cubs games, KMOX noted.
Ashley Energy provides steam for downtown buildings that include City Justice Center, Busch Stadium, Westin St. Louis Hotel, Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, and Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
However, all of the buildings stayed open for business Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District spokesman Sean Hadley told the paper.
He said that Ashley Energy is working to bring in temporary boilers to provide steam to the region. This morning, some of the dozen businesses had hot water restored. They included Westin St. Louis Hotel, whose general manager, Lance Misner, told the Post-Dispatch today that a boiler had been shipped overnight from Chicago. Misner said that Ashley Energy would reimburse the hotel for the boiler rental, which costs $25,000 to $30,000 a month.
As for the steam plant, it may not be operational until the fall, Hadley said.
On Monday afternoon, a levee failed in Lincoln County, causing water from the Mississippi River to creep further up the steps to the city’s iconic Gateway Arch, the Post-Dispatch reported. The river is expected to rise to 46 feet by Thursday, which would make it the second-highest crest on record.
