RIVER: EAST CAPE WOES PERSIST DESPITE FALL

For the first time since early April, the Mississippi River here is below flood stage. But water woes inside the East Cape Girardeau, Ill.-Clear Creek Levee District are expected to continue for at least another week or two.

One-way traffic will remain in effect over part of water-covered Illinois Route 3 between the Route 146 junction and Gale for another seven to 10 days, an Illinois highway official said Tuesday.

On Monday the river at Cape Girardeau was at 31.4 feet, six-tenths of a foot below flood stage. Until then the river here had been at or above flood stage for 57 consecutive days since April 3.

During the nearly two-month period, the Mississippi crested four times at Cape Girardeau. The highest, 40.6 feet on April 20, was the first significant flooding here in more than seven years. Other flood crests during the period included 37.5 feet on April 10; 38.8 feet on May 4; and 39.3 feet on May 15.

The river here is forecast to continue to fall slowly the rest of the week. It was at 30.8 feet on Tuesday, and is forecast to drop to 30.3 feet today, 30 feet on Thursday, and 29.8 feet by Friday.

The National Weather Service predicts a slow fall here for the rest of the month, dropping to 25.2 feet by Sunday, 22.6 by June 16, and 21 feet by June 23. The forecast assumes no additional significant precipitation over the Upper Mississippi or Illinois river watersheds after Tuesday.

Surface water inside the East Cape Girardeau levee district continues to rise along Illinois Route 3. Water draining southward through the district continues to back up from a large, gravity-flow drain20gate in the levee along the highway near Gale. The drain was opened over the weekend, but levee officials said it will take time for the water to drain.

On Tuesday a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation said about five inches of water covers a portion of the center of Route 3 between the Route 3-146 junction and the levee at Gale. One-way traffic was put into effect there May 24.

Bill Stout, highway operations engineer at Carbondale, Ill., said motorists on the highway can expect up to a five-minute delay as flagmen direct traffic over the flooded highway 24 hours a day.

Stout said: "We're concerned someone might veer off into deeper water on either side of the roadway. There is about 10 inches of water on each side of the shoulder. If you were to get off the shoulder, the water is 3- to 4-feet deep. If someone ran off the road during the night, they could get in serious trouble. It would be hard for anyone to spot them."

Stout said there has been discussion about raising the roadbed of Route 3 but there is no funding available. He said the flooding has occurred only three times in the past 30 years.

Stout said he expects the one-way traffic will continue this week, and possibly into next week.

The water problems were caused by rain that accumulated and could not drain into the river because of its high stage. The water has continued to back up over the past two months, flooding most of the 8,000 acres of farmland in the district.

On Sunday, levee district officials opened the main, 54-inch drain gate levee near Gale when the river dropped to near flood stage. The gate drains about 64 percent of the water. Other smaller drain gates in the levee were opened on Monday.

Randy Colyer of rural East Cape Girardeau said it will be another 10 days to two weeks before all of the water is gone. Colyer farms with his father, Bill Colyer, who is one of the three levee district commissioners.

"If the river keeps falling, the water should be out of here by the middle of the month," the younger Colyer said. "After that, we wait until the ground is dry enough to plant."

Farmers who live in the levee district, including Colyer and his father, still hope to get their soybeans in the ground before the end of June. Because of the wet spring and surface water that has backed up in the fields, very little corn was planted. The deadline for planting corn was mid-May.

"We can go as late as July 4, even up to July 20, and still plant beans, but we always pray for a late frost in the fall," Colyer said.

This is the third time in the past 30 years that flooding has disrupted farming operations and the daily life of those who live in and near the levee district. In 1983 and 1973, water as high as 10 inches covered parts of Route 146 and Route 3. After the 1983 flood, the roadbed of Route 146 between the river bridge and the Route 3 junction was raised to prevent sections of the roadway from being flooded by the backwater.