A man allegedly caused a major flood to delay his wife’s return home so he could continue partying.
While there are various ways to extend a night out, most would agree that causing a flood resulting in five months of chaos and billion-dollar damages is extreme.
This outlandish scenario involves Missouri resident James Scott, accused of such an act in 1993.
Those familiar with history recognize 1993 as the year of The Great Flood.
The flood itself occurred that year, but its origins trace back to 1992.
A wet end to that year left unusually high soil moisture and reservoir levels in the Missouri and Upper Mississippi River basins.
Continued storms and heavy rainfall over the months increased the river’s strength, eventually breaching the levees from Iowa to Missouri.
More than 1,000 levees failed during the event, but Scott was specifically charged with tampering with one.
His involvement came under scrutiny after he was interviewed on local television and noted seeing seepage at a levee.
“I tried throwing sand bags, you know, and it didn’t work,” Scott recounted.
The levee had been checked just two hours before, which raised authorities’ suspicions, leading to Scott’s questioning.
Initially released, Scott later faced arrest in October 1993 for an unrelated burglary, where he reportedly admitted to removing sand bags from the levee, as per CourtTV.
Scott argued that his actions were to highlight a problem area, yet a witness suggested otherwise.
This individual claimed Scott mentioned that if his wife was marooned by the floodwaters, he could ‘party’ and it would ‘create ideal fishing conditions’.
The prosecution argued that Scott might have either removed or cut the levee’s plastic coverings before digging into the sand, allowing the floodwaters to surge in.
The flood led to 47 deaths and the evacuation of about 54,000 individuals, causing damages between $15 to $20 billion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBziM470rE0
Scott was charged and convicted of deliberately causing a disaster, a Class A felony, receiving a 20-year to life sentence.
In a 2018 interview, Scott asserted his innocence.
Speaking to ABC17, he stated: “I can’t sit here and prove to you that I did not break the West Quincy Levee. Yet, they never proved at my trial that I did. Because I did not break the West Quincy Levee.
“The judge said, ‘We found you guilty on circumstantial evidence.’ I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, I know you did.’ There was no solid evidence.”
Scott continues to claim that the levee collapse was a natural occurrence.