Swollen Mississippi River to crest in Missouri

Luke Skywalker · Dec 31, 2015

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[h=4]Swollen Mississippi River to crest in Missouri[/h]Communities along the Mississippi south of St. Louis enter a critical period from rising waters of Mississippi and its tributaries.

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Witness Missouri's horrifying flooding that residents say is the worst they've ever seen. VPC

The Mississippi River flows past the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. A rare winter flood threatens nearly two dozen federal levees in Missouri and Illinois on Wednesday as rivers rose, prompting evacuations in several places.(Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

Rising water on the Mississippi River and its tributaries forced*the shutdown of a second major Interstate near St. Louis Thursday as the torrent of high water*rushed southward, setting up threats of more flooding in southern Missouri and Illinois,Tennessee and Mississippi.
Officials shut down Interstate 55 *south of St. Louis Thursday morning as*water*from the*Meramac River poured onto the roadway. The*Meramac had*already forced the shutdown of a 24-mile section of I-44, which radiates to the southwest out of St.Louis, which caused*havoc for commuters and truck transports.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said*Wednesday that water had topped*nine levees. Most of those earthen barriers are*meant to protect farmland rather than populated areas, and one of the failed levees*was along now-deserted, manmade Chouteau Island near St. Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.

Rescue personnel stage on a flooded road on Dec. 30, 2015, in West Alton, Mo. A rare winter flood threatened nearly two dozen federal levees in Missouri and Illinois on Wednesday as rivers rose, prompting evacuations in several places.*(Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

Officials helped residents get to higher ground as*swollen rivers and streams pushed to heights not seen in nearly a quarter-century. The raging*Mississippi, and the rivers that feed it, were*expected to crest Thursday in Missouri, threatening low-lying*communities and farmland.
The Weather Channel calls the situation a "slow-motion disaster" as the swollen rivers make their way to the Gulf.
At least 22*people have died in Missouri,*Illinois, Arkansas and Oklahoma*in the recent flooding, most of them swept away in vehicles while trying to get through high water.
Residents of the St. Louis suburb of Valley Park, population 7,000, had largely cleared out of their homes on Wednesday, but were hoping that the nine-year-old refurbished local*levee, already at a breakpoint,*would still keep*the waters of the fast-rising Meramac at bay.
Valley Park City Attorney Tim Engelmeyer said it was touch and go whether the expected crest of around 43 feet on Thursday would breach the*levee.
“We’re so close,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “We’re talking about a potential 6-inch difference.”
Conditions eased in some areas of the state, particularly in the southwest around Branson, where the rising White River on Wednesday swamped the town of Rockaway Beach, with a population of 800.
Table Rock Dam, which*feeds*Lake Taneycom and the White River, created havoc for low-lying residents when it*released a record 72,000 cubic feet of water per second on Tuesday.*But the pressure*eased after*Beaver Lake upstream in Arkansas*closed its spillway, sending*less water*into Table Rock Lake, whose water level had*begun to drop.
Even as Missouri residents fought*the flood menace, either with*more sandbags or a dash to higher land,*communities farther downstream braced*for their own battle this weekend.
In Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner has issued a disaster declaration for three counties. In addition,*Three historic sites*have been closed by the flooding, according to the Associated Press.*The state's Historic Preservation Agency said Fort de Chartres, Fort Kaskaskia and Pierre Menard Home were closed in Randolph County, about 40 miles south of St. Louis, because the flooding has made the grounds unsafe.
Gov. Bruce Rauner issued a disaster declaration for seven counties overnight Tuesday. In central and southern Illinois, several rivers reported major flooding, and shelters were opened to house the evacuees.
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency because of "imminent flooding" from the Mississippi and Red Rivers.
In Tunica County, Miss., southwest of Memphis, dozens of families have already evacuated their homes, as*rising water rolls*down the mighty Mississippi toward them, WREG-TV reports.
"Oh gosh. It's fixing to be bad," Clayton Powell told the Memphis station.
"Right now we're moving out everything out of the houses, everything out of the yards," added*another resident, James Sell. "We're getting everything that's not tied down away from here, so it doesn't get carried off by the flood."
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Swollen Mississippi River to crest in Missouri

Luke Skywalker

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