RIVER IS CLIMBING TO 36 FEET

The Mississippi River is forecast to crest Friday at Cape Girardeau at 36 feet, 4 feet above flood stage.

But the National Weather Service at St. Charles said 1 to 3 inches of additional rain was forecast over most of Missouri Monday night and today, which could alter the crest prediction.

The river at Cape Girardeau is forecast to reach flood stage of 32 feet late today or early Wednesday. On Monday the river here was at 26.1 feet, a rise of 2.2 feet. It was forecast to rise to 29.6 feet today, 33.3 feet on Wednesday, 35.4 feet on Thursday, and cresting at 36 feet on Friday.

At Chester, Ill., where flood stage is 27 feet, the Mississippi rose nearly 3.8 feet Monday, to 20.2 feet. The river is forecast to crest at Chester on Thursday at between 31 and 32 feet.

Meanwhile, the Ohio River at Cairo, Ill., is well above the 40-foot flood stage. On Monday the Ohio at Cairo was at 48 feet, 8 feet above flood stage. The weather service said the Ohio is expected to crest Sunday at Cairo at 52 feet.

Heavy rains over the weekend in the state were blamed for the sharp rises on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers north of Cape Girardeau.

The rain was the result of a stationary front that reaches across Missouri and Illinois, and a deep low-pressure center that has been generating low-pressure impulses that move eastward along the front and produce heavy rains and thunderstorms.

On Monday the Missouri River rose 7.5 feet at Jefferson City, 7.1 feet at Hermann, and 7 feet at Washington, Mo.

At 36 feet on the Cape Girardeau gauge, no serious flooding occurs except on unprotected farmland on both sides of the river and along the north side of the Diversion Channel.

The flood crest means the Main Street Levee District will have to close the Themis Street floodgate when the river reaches 35.6 to 36 feet. The Broadway floodgate is not closed until the river reaches 38 feet.

C.A. "Andy" Juden, president of the Main Street Levee District, said the district's Merriwether Street pump station will go into operation at 8 a.m. today as the river approaches 32 feet. Juden said the Themis Street floodgate will be closed either Thursday or Friday.

The 36-foot flood crest forecast for here would be the highest the river has been so far this year. The all-time record flood crest at Cape Girardeau occurred Aug. 8, when the river crested at 48.49 feet.