"Residents proved their tap water carries sewage and bacteria. Federal funding dried up anyway."

"CAHOKIA HEIGHTS, Illinois — For most people, a glass of water and a rainy day are harmless, even comforting. For Earlie Fuse, they are a haunting reminder.

When the forecast calls for storms in southern Illinois, he knows to brace for the possibility that his block will turn into a lake again, cutting him off from the road and swallowing the basement he has rebuilt over and over.

The first time the water came for his house in 1993, he remembers opening the back door before dawn, lunch packed for his early morning shift at an auto garage, and stepping into a brown sheet of water that reached his car’s windows.

He was already in his 50s then; in his 60s, he would realize that water seeping into his home was full of sewage. 

At 85, he has watched that same flood creep back again and again, chewing through five basement walls, seven hot water tanks, five furnaces, and the bathroom tiles and tub that threatened to sink through soggy floorboards."

Adam Mahoney reports for Capital B April 28, 2026. [2]