RIVER HERE ON THE RISE ONCE AGAIN

The Mississippi River is on the rise for the ninth time this year. The National Weather Service said Wednesday the river at Cape Girardeau is expected to crest over the weekend at 37.5 feet.

The latest crest -- the ninth this year here -- is caused by heavy rains this week north of Cape Girardeau.

The river was at 34.8 feet on Wednesday. It is expected to rise to 35.2 feet today, 36.1 feet on Thursday, and 37 feet on Friday, cresting on Sunday at 37.5 feet, 5.5 feet above flood stage.

The latest crest is not expected to cause significant flooding, but it forced the Main Street Levee District to close the Themis Street floodgate Wednesday afternoon. It was opened just a few days ago.

Flood district President C.A. "Andy" Juden Jr. said that unless the river reaches 38 feet the Broadway floodgate will remain open as the latest flood crest approaches.

That will be good news to officials on board the Corps of Engineer's inspection vessel, Mississippi V, which is expected to dock at the foot of Broadway Sunday afternoon. The Mississippi River Commission will conduct the first of a series of public hearings at Cape Girardeau as part of the commission's annual fall, low-water inspection tour of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers from Cape Girardeau to Morgan City, La.

The latest flood crest is a bitter setback to officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation and the East Cape Girardeau-Clear Creek Levee District. Seepwater and rainwater the past four months has collected at the south end of the levee district near Gale, Ill., causing surface water to back up as far north as McClure.

The rising surface water forced IDOT to close Route 3 from the Route 143-Route 3 junction south to Gale because of water over a two-mile stretch of highway.

Bill Stout, district operations engineer with IDOT at Carbondale, Ill., said the river had dropped Tuesday to within a half-foot of the level needed to open the drains under the levee.

"Before the drains can be reopened, the river has to drop to at least 34.5 feet on the Cape Girardeau gauge," he said. "We were about a half-foot above that on Tuesday. With the river coming back up, it's hard to say when the levee district will be able to reopen the drains. We will continue to operate the two large pumps alongside the levee near Gale to keep the surface water from rising even higher."

In its 30-day river stage forecast Wednesday, the weather service said the Mississippi River here is expected to drop to 33 feet by Sept. 22. Forecasters said the river will drop to 26.2 feet on Sept. 29, 21.8 feet on Oct. 6, and 19.8 feet by Oct. 13. The predictions are based on no significant rain occurring after Sept. 15.

That means it will be at least the middle of next week before the river here will fall enough to reopen the drains under the levee.

Stout said heavy rains in the area Tuesday created more problems for IDOT in its battle to keep Routes 146 and 3 open from the bridge to McClure.

Said Stout: "After yesterday's rain, we had some water over a part of Route 3 just south of McClure and over a part of Route 146 just east of the East Cape Y-junction. We've put water-over-the-road signs at each location to warn motorists. We also had to come back in on Wednesday and put down a new layer of rock over the area of Route 146 that was raised last month. The heavy rain eroded away some of the rock roadbed."

Stout said there are no plans to reopen the closed section of Route 3 until there is at least 3-6 inches of freeboard between the water level and the narrow rock shoulder of the highway.

"Once we have about 3 to 6 inches of freeboard and the water is off the surface and shoulder of the highway, we'll try to reopen the highway to traffic again, but at this time I have no idea when that will happen," he said. "With the river coming back up, all we can do is keep pumping so the water doesn't get any higher. But until the river drops below 34 or 34.5 feet, the drains cannot be opened."

Stout said IDOT has never considered asking the levee district to breach the levee near Gale to allow the water to drain more quickly into the river.

"The levee is already weakened by all the water that was on it the past three months. Cutting the levee now would only weaken it even more. When the surface water level drops enough to reopen Route 3, the rest of the water can drain by gravity flow through the drain pipes," he explained.

Randy Collier of the levee district, who farms with his father Bill Collier in the East Cape Girardeau area, said the district has no plans to cut the levee.

"First of all there's a danger the river might suddenly rise again while the levee was cut," he said. "And there's no reason to cut the levee at this time of the year because we can't plant crops until next spring," he said.