"Basically we're preventing anyone from driving over the bridge," said Patrolman John Wilsman. The engineers haven't come down and said the bridge was okay to drive across and there's still some debris left on the road."

Amy Thorn captured pictures of the flood water just as it began receding. She went by foot to get across the highway overpass.

"I think it's important for us all to see this, not just to gawk or to be opportunistic but just to appreciate what we have and that's what I do with my photography." Thorn said. "For me its very humbling to be able to go out and be able to photography and document this."

The flood water crested just below a levee in Valley Park.

"The levee is amazing the five million dollar levee has really held," Thorn said.

Crews are working to repair the railroad bridge over the Meramec River.

"We need to clean this debris," a member of the cleanup crew said.

Rail workers take extra precautions so that if this bridge is swept away it won't take the levee with it.

"There are no words. When we we're on the bridge you could hear the sound and the volume of that water. You think of a train. It sounds like a freight train," said Thorn.

The worst of the damages has flown through the valley, but residents still came out to see what's left behind.

"It's not unusual for us to hear about something and you want to go see it. You want to go photograph it and document it."

And those snapshots of the flood of 2008 are a simple reminder.

"Life is short. Life is short man, you've got to get out there and feel it," Thorn said.