RIVER HERE WON'T HIT FLOOD STAGE; MORE RAIN COULD ALTER PREDICTION

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau is forecast to crest Wednesday just below flood stage at 31.7 feet.

For now, the river is expected to remain in its banks from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau. But the National Weather Service says that could change if more rain falls.

On Monday, the Mississippi at Cape was at 31 feet. The last time it was that high was July 6, 1990. The river here has been on a generally upward trend since mid-March.

The three-day forecast calls for the river here to rise to 31.5 feet today, 31.7 on Wednesday, then fall back to 31.5 feet on Thursday.

The Mississippi at St. Louis, with a flood stage of 30 feet, was forecast to crest today at 25.7 feet. At Chester, with a flood stage of 27 feet, the river will crest tomorrow at 26.5 feet.

The Ohio at Cairo, Ill. is expected to fall below flood stage Saturday. On Monday, the Ohio at Cairo was at 43.6 feet, 3.6 feet

IP0,1above flood stage. It is predicted to IP1,0drop back to 42.5 feet by Thursday.

The National Weather Service said the predictions are based on no significant precipitation occurring between today and the end of the week. But the extended weather forecast, Thursday through Saturday, calls for thunderstorms.

If the rainfall from those storms falls in the right places, forecasters say it could push the river back up again by early next week.

The Army Corps of Engineers says the high water this month is mostly due to extensive rainfall that fell during the past two-three weeks in the Upper Missouri and Mississippi and Illinois watersheds. Officials said only a very small amount of the water is from the annual snow melt along the Upper Mississippi.

Despite the high water, neither the Mill Street or the Merriwether Street pumping stations have been activated. Mark Baranovic of Union Electric in Cape Girardeau said there are no plans at present to open either pumping station. "We're going to try to ride it out," he said.

Union Electric operates the Mill Street Station for the North Main Street Levee District. The Merriwether Street Pump Station is operated by the Main Street Levee District.

The high water did cause the city's wastewater treatment plant in South Cape to switch from gravity to pump discharge of the effluent from the plant into the river. Plant Supervisor Steve Cook said the pumping began Monday and will probably continue until the river drops to between 30-31 feet.

The Water Street flood gates are closed when the river goes above 36 feet.

Authorities here point out significant flooding in unprotected areas in the north and south areas of the city, and along the river and the Diversion Channel, does not begin until the river reaches 37-38 feet on the Cape gauge.

Last year, the Mississippi River went above flood stage for the first time in three years when it crested at 39.6 feet on May 21. Before then, the last time the river was above flood stage was Oct. 11, 1986, when it crested at 42.06 feet.

Other major high water marks on the river here since the all-time record flood of May 1, 1973, (45.6 feet) include: 41.1 feet on March 1, 1985; 44.9 feet on May 6, 1983; 43.5 feet on Dec. 10, 1982; and 44.4 feet on April 17, 1979.