Early in the morning of September 10, 1993, Mississippi River breached an agricultural levee near Columbia, Illinois, north of Valmeyer, causing residents to evacuate to higher ground. At peak flood state, the town stood under as much as sixteen feet of water; in its wake, 90% of the homes, farmhouses, and commercial structures were damaged beyond repair. Within weeks, FEMA began the process of buying out homeowners and leveling these structures. The citizens of Valmeyer successfully relocated the community to a bluff two miles west, complete with new homes, schools, and public facilities. Two dozen households remain in the former Valmeyer site, alongside a remaining grid of streets. Much of the Old Valmeyer is now empty fields or agricultural ground. Each summer cornfields cover the former site of the Valmeyer Elementary.