Southern States Brace for Mississippi River Floods as St Louis Cleans Up

Gov. Jay Nixon on Saturday toured communities in his state ravaged by flooding that killed at least 31 people and forced the evacuations of thousands in the MS and OH river regionswhile the danger of rising waters shifted to Arkansas and other states farther downriver.

But worries surfaced anew Sunday along the still-rising Illinois River north of St. Louis, where crests near the west-central Illinois towns of Valley City, Meredosia, Beardstown and Havana were to approach records before receding in coming days.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday declared 12 counties in the state as disaster areas and ordered members of the National Guard to assist in evacuations and flood controls. Two more levees succumbed Friday, raising to at least 11 the number of levee failures.

The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a three-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for 24 deaths in IL and Missouri.

Communities along the Mississippi River in southern IL and southern Missouri are expected to see the river rise to record levels into early next week.

But by Friday afternoon, conditions eased in the St. Louis area.

“They are used to being isolated and cut off, but with this record height, we’re confident some homes will get wet”, Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management Director Richard Knaup said. By Friday, it was relenting, but not before it had topped the 1993 record by 4 feet in some places.

Several homes were damaged and residents evacuated in New Athens, Illinois, a town of 2,000 residents about 30 miles southeast of St. Louis. He said he was impatient – he had left six days earlier without taking anything because he did not think the floods would be so bad.

In the Alexander County seat of Cairo, where the MS and OH rivers meet, the OH is expected to crest Sunday at 56.5 feet, more than 3 feet above major flooding stage. The city itself, protected by a flood wall and a sloping geography that keeps downtown and most homes free from the Mississippi River’s wrath, remained mostly dry. The clouds have long cleared out, but runoff has swelled rivers, increasing the flooding, and many have yet to crest.

The Ohio River, where it joins the MS, was just centimeters below its forecast peak of 56 feet – 16 feet above flood stage but well below the historic 61.72-foot peak of 2011, according to the National Weather Service.

With wastewater plants closed or damaged by the floods – and in one case, sewage pouring into the MS – beer giant Anheuser-Busch has donated almost 33,000 water cans in Oklahoma and around St Louis.

“Our crews are getting dispatched to another rescue now”, Scott Barthelmass, a Eureka Fire Protection District spokesman, said mid-afternoon Wednesday as the swollen Meramec River there was cresting.

Outside St Louis, in the town of Fenton, Saturday brought a pause after days of sleepless efforts to evacuate residents and protect homes there.

In addition to the flood wall, the city of Cape Girardeau has spent years strengthening the nearby system of levees, and it has, with some federal money, bought out homes in the Mississippi River’s flood plain, Nicholas J.C. Pistor reported for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Some plane owners have moved their airplanes to other sites as a precaution.

The river surge is expected to hit areas further downstream with flooding, such as Memphis, Tenn.

Flood warnings were also in effect yesterday for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, the Carolinas, Alabama and Kentucky, the NWS said, while major flooding was occurring on the Arkansas River and its tributaries in that state.

Several states between Ohio River and eastern Oklahoma have been contending with torrents of water that are unusual during the winter season, the National Weather Service said.

Ballentine reported from Columbia, Mo.