RIVER DROPS TO NORMAL LEVELS

The National Weather Service says the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau should continue falling slowly toward normal levels during the next 30 days, which would put the river at its lowest level in nine months.

For much of the year, the river has been unusually high, which makes the dropping level seem particularly low, a weather service official said.

Cape Girardeau's river stage Sunday was 14 feet, down .2 of a foot. The state is forecast to drop to 13.8 today, before maintaining a level of 13.6 feet Tuesday and Wednesday.

The St. Louis river stage Sunday was 7 feet. It was forecast to rise slightly and remain stationary at 7.2 feet today through Wednesday. The Ohio River at Cairo Sunday was at 15.5 feet, a rise of 1.4 feet. It was forecast to fall to 15 feet by Wednesday.

The Mississippi River Aug. 6 and 7 at Cape Girardeau was at 12.4 feet. The last time the river was that low was Nov. 28, 1990, when it was at 9.5 feet.

Increased rainfall throughout the year in the Mississippi's upper basin north of St. Louis, has pushed the river stage above normal between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau.

As late as July 14, the river here was at 22.7 feet, and it's only now starting to recede to normal late summer levels.

Sand bars on both sides of the river at Cape Rock, north of the city, and the rock-wing dikes on the Illinois side of the river across from the downtown waterfront, are visible for the first time since last December.

The latest 30-day outlook, affected by a lack of rain along the river since Aug. 7, indicates the river at Cape Girardeau will drop to 12.8 feet by Aug. 14 and 10.6 feet by Sept. 4.

That's still well above the record low water levels that were recorded two years ago. On Dec. 23 and 26, 1989, the Mississippi here fell to 1.29 feet. It was the low water mark that year, and not far from the all-time record low of .6 of a foot, set Jan. 15, 1909.

In 1989, Union Electric was forced to cut a deeper trench in the rocky edge of the river bed near its Cape Rock water intake pumping station to assure that river water could reach the pump intakes below the pumping station.

The barge and towing industry has welcomed the high water levels this year, which only three years ago was fighting along with the Coast Guard and Corps of Engineers to keep a 200-mile reach of the river between St. Louis and Cairo open to commercial navigation.

Despite the lower water levels this month, corps and Coast Guard officials said no serious navigation problems have developed on the river between St. Louis and Cairo.