MISSISSIPPI HEADED TOWARD ANOTHER CREST

The pesky flood of 2001 just won't go away.

The National Weather Service on Thursday said the Mississippi River would rise through the weekend to new heights at several spots in Missouri and Illinois north of St. Louis. Rainfall, mainly to the north, was being blamed.

The new crests were expected to be slightly higher than those of late last month. River stages at Quincy, Ill., and the Missouri towns of Hannibal, Louisiana and Clarksville were all projected at 7 to 8 feet above flood stage reasonably large floods but still dwarfed by the standard established by the Great Flood of '93.

At Cape Girardeau, the river stood Thursday night at 31.7 feet, three-tenths of a foot shy of flood stage. The forecast Thursday called for the river to climb to 32.3 feet today, 32.9 feet on Saturday and to crest at 33.5 feet on Sunday. That forecast, however, is likely to be revised with higher crests upstream.

Although flood stage at Cape Girardeau is considered 32 feet, no flooding occurs at that reading on the gauge.

By the time the river reaches St. Louis, little or no flooding was predicted. That's because tributaries -- including the Missouri River, which merges with the Mississippi just north of St. Louis -- were not flooding, said Scott Dummer, hydrologist for the National Weather Service.

But from Quincy to Clarksville, town leaders were bracing for more water. While they didn't expect major problems, they were far from carefree.

"We're not sandbagging, but the bags and sand were ready a month ago," said Kelly Henderson, city superintendent in Louisiana, a town of about 4,000 residents 70 miles north of St. Louis.

The Weather Service predicted a crest of 22.1 feet Sunday at Louisiana, 7.1 feet above flood stage. Some roads have been closed, and the city has already shut down its sewage treatment plant, meaning raw sewage was being dumped into the river.

Henderson was hoping the 22.1-foot figure was accurate.

"Twenty-three's almost like the magic number," he said. "If it would go up to 23, we're going to have major sandbagging, evacuations and things like that."

Just south of Louisiana in Clarksville, a popular day-trip for St. Louis area tourists, the river was expected to crest Monday 7.6 feet above flood stage. That would mean downtown's historic turn-of-the-century buildings would remain dry, but barely.

Ralph Huesing, director of Clarksville's Main Street program, said that so far, the perception of flooding has been worse than the reality.

"Every time it's on one of the channels that it is so many feet above flood stage, everybody stops coming," Huesing said. "We have some water on Front Street, but it doesn't prevent you from going to a single commercial establishment."

Still, sandbags and pumps were ready -- just in case.

"It's just part of living on the river," Huesing said. "This is a normal spring thing -- a little higher than we'd like."

Hannibal's rich Mark Twain heritage has been guarded by an earthen levee since just before the 1993 flood. But the levee only protects downtown, and property in low-lying areas -- a recreation center, a ballpark, a few scattered business -- have been under water for several days. Bubba's Restaurant, in an old grocery warehouse on the wrong side of the levee, was surrounded by sandbags.

Highway flooding expected

The river was expected to crest 7.9 feet above flood stage Sunday evening in Hannibal. That could mean some flooding along scenic Missouri 79 south of town, and force a few more evacuations.

"It ain't up here yet, but it's getting close," said Bobby Pierce, who works at J&J Garage, just south of the protected area of downtown. "If it gets any closer, we're going to have to move out. It's about two feet from the garage right now."

More rain expected

More rain was predicted for Thursday night for portions of northeast Missouri and Iowa, but Dummer said the crest prediction took that forecast into account. The 30-day forecast calls for normal rainfall.

Ironically, the flooding on the Mississippi comes at a time when other sections of Missouri are in near-drought conditions, Dummer said. Parts of southeast Missouri have been particularly dry.

"They really need the rain," he said.