Mississippi to reach highest level in six years

For 84 of the 104 days since March 1, the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau has been above flood stage. And due to massive rains in Iowa, Wisconsin and northern Illinois, the river is expected to reach the highest levels of the year in coming days.

The National Weather Service on Thursday predicted that the river will rise from the Thursday afternoon level of 36.6 feet to 44.5 feet June 24. The forecast is based on rain already in the streams and rivers to the north. Additional rain could alter the crest height and date.

If the river reaches the predicted crest, it would be the highest level at Cape Girardeau since 2002.

At that level, farmers near streams and drainage ditches could lose their ripening wheat crops as well as corn and soybeans that have recently emerged. Four of the five floodgates in the levee and floodwall system protecting downtown Cape Girardeau would be closed and the city's sewage treatment plant would have to pump wastewater directly into the river.

At Larry Quade's farm on County Road 241 near Allenville, Thursday was spent on machinery maintenance in preparation for a planned wheat harvest next week. He already lost 200 acres of wheat in floods that struck after heavy local rains March 18.

The wheat, while ripening quickly in the hot, dry weather of the past two weeks, needs a few more days. Hints of green can still be seen in the stalks and seed heads.

With storms forecast for the area today and another possibility for rain Monday, Quade is wondering whether the grain will dry before water invades his fields from the nearby Diversion Channel.

And the rising water, if it reaches the predicted level, will drown most of the corn and soybeans on the 1,000 acres. While he has disaster insurance and is quick to say he's not looking for sympathy, it is hard to lose crops in a year when corn is selling for $7 a bushel, soybeans are worth $15 a bushel and wheat is about $8 per bushel.

"It is definitely going to have a big impact," said Quade, who farms in partnership with his father. "I'd just as soon have $3 or $4 corn and grow a good crop than have things this way."

About 100 of Quade's 1,000 acres have been underwater since March. Other fields have only recently dried enough for the preparatory work needed to plant soybeans. As of now, he said, all field work is on hold while he waits for high water.

"We had replanted corn, and we were back rolling again," Quade said.

If the river reaches predicted levels, it could force the construction of a temporary levee along Highway 74 near Dutchtown in an attempt to keep the town from further damage. At a town meeting this evening, residents are expected to express their views on whether to seek a flood buyout of damaged properties or work to secure funding for a permanent levee. They learned Tuesday evening that the projected cost of a levee is now 36 percent higher than estimated six months ago.

Village Clerk Doyle Parmer said he's not sure what impact the high water prediction will have on the mood of townspeople.

For now, the most severe effect of the flooding in Missouri is being felt in the northeast.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began closing several locks on the Mississippi River, and roughly 220 miles of the river north of Winfield, Mo., will be effectively closed to navigation as of Monday.

"We have to protect large electric motors and other electric components. As you know, that stuff doesn't play well with water," said Alan Dooley, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in St. Louis.

He said the motors move large gates or open and close valves that allow water to flow in and out of the locks. He noted the corps only closes the locks, not the river itself, but "as the locks are closing from the north to the south, you lose the ability to navigate the river."

The corps activated its Emergency Operations Center in St. Louis and has been in contact with levee district officials all along the river to determine where and when help might be needed, said George Stringham, a spokesman for the corps.

In Canton, Mo., officials are calling for volunteers to help add a sandbag and wood-frame structure to raise the levee protecting the town. "We definitely need volunteers," said Jeff McReynolds, emergency management director for the city of about 2,500 residents.

Canton has a three-mile earthen levee around the community, and about 100 volunteers were already working. They hoped to place perhaps 800,000 sandbags before Wednesday, when the river is expected to crest at more than 26 feet, about 12 feet above flood stage.

"Our current plan of attack is to raise the levee about two and a half feet with sandbags and batterboards," he said. Volunteers were being checked in near the site of an old grocery store in town.

The American Red Cross Southeast Missouri chapter announced Thursday that it is sending five disaster relief workers for duty in Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa, where heavy rains pushed smaller rivers out of their banks, leaving thousands homeless.

The Cape Girardeau floodgate at Themis Street has been closed for two days and the Broadway gate will be closed at 3 p.m. today. As the river rises, the gate allowing the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to pass through town must be closed at about 38 feet and the North Main Street gate must be closed before the river reaches 42 feet, said Tim Gramling, public works director for the city.

In addition, 42 feet is the level where the city begins pumping its sewage directly into the Mississippi without treatment.

Gramling said initial high crest predictions are regularly revised downward as more information about the timing and speed of floodwaters becomes known. "It could be higher, it could be a lot lower," Gramling said. "A lot of things can happen."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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