HIGHWAY 25 REOPENS AS FLOODWATER RECEDES

Thanks to a small, gravel levee and a big highway department pump working around the clock, Highway 25 is open at Dutchtown.

But Highway A from Dutchtown west to Whitewater and Highway 74 from Dutchtown east to I-55 remain closed because of the flooding.

Saturday morning, state highway crews pushed aside the gravel and sandbag levee closing 25 at Dutchtown opening it to traffic about 1 p.m. Within hours cars were traveling the section that had been closed.

A smaller gravel levee stands on the west side of 25 holding back floodwaters, and river water seeps through at a visible pace.

Without the small levee and the pump, floodwaters would cover at least half of Highway 25. So state highway department employees will be manning the pump around-the-clock through at least Monday.

About every 15 minutes enough water trickles through the levee to trigger the pump. Schools of minnows and tadpoles were swimming around the highway department tractor that drives the pump.

The Mississippi River continues its slow descent. On Saturday, the river was at 44.97 feet and falling, down just .23 feet from Friday.

While motorists got good news on Saturday about Highway 25, Coast Guard Lt. Tom Thomas at the Traffic Information Center in St. Louis said river traffic on the Mississippi remains closed.

Coast Guard officials are looking at the possibility of opening traffic from St. Louis headed north this week. But traffic headed south will have to wait.

The river stage at St. Louis must drop to at least 38 feet before barge traffic can resume. The river is predicted to go below 38 feet at St. Louis on Tuesday.

However, the Mississippi River must be at 41 feet at Cairo for barge traffic to pass that port. The river is more than 10 feet above that stage at Cairo. On Tuesday, the Mississippi was forecast to be at 51.2 feet.

"It will be a little while before we can run traffic down there," Thomas said.