River crest prediction lowered for Cape Girardeau

River crests down the Mississippi River are expected to be lower due to overtopped levees in northern Missouri.

Levee inundation happened along the Mississippi River at 11 levees in St. Louis and St. Charles counties and also farther north up along Lincoln and Pike counties. The levees began being overtopped Sunday in Pike County and hit St. Louis on Wednesday.

The river is expected to crest at Cape Girardeau at 41.5 feet Monday, compared with 43 feet the following Wednesday the National Weather Service had forecast. The record river crest in Cape Girardeau is 47.9 feet, which happened Aug. 8, 1993.

The 11 natural, or agricultural, levees that were topped came as no surprise to Nicole Dalrymple, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Little could be done to stop the flooding water, she said.

"These are miles and miles of levees we're talking about," Dalrymple said. "And sometimes there isn't enough time. Sandbagging is the only remedy we can prescribe."

The corps said the 11 levees hadn't "failed" because at the time they were built they were meant to hold back lower river levels.

Four more natural levees at Pike Grain No. 1 and 2, Winfield and Elm Point are considered high potentials for overtopping, according to corps' Web site.