MISSISSIPPI BEGINS GRADUAL FALL; CREST MOVES THROUGH CITY AT 39.5 FEET

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau is expected to begin a slow fall following Monday's 39.5-foot crest, the National Weather Service said.

The reading here should remain at 39.5 feet today, but begin a fall to 38.8 feet Wednesday and drop to 37.2 feet Thursday, said the weather service at Paducah, Ky.

Cape Girardeau's flood stage is 32 feet on the gauge.

The possibility of one-half inch of rain through Wednesday is factored into the river forecast, said the weather service.

Both floodgates in Cape Girardeau remain closed. Andy Juden, president of the Main Street Levee District, said the river must fall considerably before they are opened.

The Broadway Street gate probably will be opened Thursday, he said. The river stage must be below 38.7 feet before it can be opened. It must be at 36.2 feet for the Themis street gate to be opened, and no one is certain when that will happen. The earliest the Themis gate could be opened is next week.

"We don't know how fast or slow the river will go down," Juden said. "We'll have to wait and see."

Some believe the flooding isn't over.

"This is very early for us to have a flood," Juden said. "There's still a great deal of snow up north. It's only conjecture, but these conditions certainly make conditions favorable for having more flooding."

Those who live along the river agreed.

"I don't think it's nearly over," said Harold Kraft, who has lived in his home along the Mississippi in Commerce since 1973, and has had to move once before when water seeped into his home.

"I've been here my whole life, and I bet I could tell what that river does before she does it just by how much rain they get up north," Kraft said. "She ain't done with us yet."

"There's more coming," said Bob Keesee, who has lived all of his life along the Mississippi east of Scott City. "I don't know if it's going to be as high as the one in '93 or '94, but it's far from over."

Keesee owns two rental houses along the river. Both are flooded.

Wess Littleton, who rents one of the houses, moved to Scott City recently. He was in the home less than a month when the river invaded it. On Monday he had to take a boat to his house to get some belongings for while he stays with a friend.

"This is crazy," Littleton said. "I had never been flooded out before. It's a lot of trouble."

Commerce, another Scott County town, is no stranger to flooding. Many of the homes near the river were bought out last year by the government, but Mayor Alan Wright said if the river gets higher than it did in 1995, water still would flood some homes.