The National Weather Service says unless significant precipitation occurs to the north of Cape Girardeau after today, the Mississippi River here is expected to fall below flood stage for the first time since early June.
The river at Cape Girardeau continues to fall slowly after its record crest of 47.9 feet on Aug. 7. On Saturday the river was at 37.6 feet, a fall of four-tenths of a foot. It's expected to drop to 37.2 feet today, 36.8 on Monday, and 36.4 on Tuesday.
At 7 a.m. Friday, workers for the Main Street Levee District opened the Broadway floodwall gate for the first time since July 5, allowing people to get a closeup view of the river for the first time in nearly two months. The gate can be opened when the river drops to 38 feet.
Throughout the day Friday and Saturday many braved temperatures in the mid-90s to stand at the water's edge again and look at the river and passing towboats and barge tows, and to scan the floodwall for the highwater mark.
One of those inspecting the floodwall on Saturday was Tim Blattner, chairman of the River Heritage Mural Association. Blattner wanted to get a close-up look of the mural that was painted on the floodwall in 1991, to see what over 40 days of dirty river water may have done to the mural that depicts the history of Cape Girardeau.
After using a rag, some river water and a little elbow grease to test clean a small part of the mural, Blattner said: "The mural is essentially okay. However, the deposits of dirt and sludge from the long, extended flood were substantially more than was on the mural when the river was up in April of this year.
"The job of cleaning the mural although it can and certainly will be done over the next couple of weeks is going to be a tough one. It's going to require a fair amount of elbow grease, lots of soap and water, and a lot of patience," Blattner said.
Cleaning the mural will be done in two steps, he said. "First, we'll use a high-pressure water hose to get as much of the dirt and grime as we can. Then we'll use a lot of soap and water with brushes to get all of the dirt out of the pock marks in the concrete wall. After that, we plan to come back with a light application of muriatic acid to give it one final cleaning. Most likely we'll use the same commercial cleaning company that did the last cleanup of the mural," he said.
Blattner hopes the cleanup work can begin this week, or as soon as the river is low enough for the work on the mural to be done safely. That will probably be around mid-week, at about the same time the Themis Street floodgate is reopened, when the river drops to near 35 feet.
Although no sealer was put over the mural when it was painted, Blattner says the paint used was specially designed to withstand water and still retain its color.
And even if some damage has occurred to the mural, Blattner says the association is prepared to have it repainted. But, he said: "I don't think it will be necessary. I think after all the dirt and grime is removed, we're going to find the mural is pretty much the same as it was before the flood."
During the spring and summer months, people come down to the river on a hot, summer evening to watch the towboats and their barge tows go past the city. They have done very little of both this year, thanks to the Great Flood of 1993.
Andy Juden, president of the Main Street Levee District, said the Broadway floodgate was first closed on April 16, and reopened on May 22. The Broadway gate was closed again on July 5, the day after the steamboats, Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen, stopped here during The Great Steamboat Race. The gate was reopened on Aug. 27.
The Themis Street floodgate has been closed three times this year, Juden reported. The first was on March 9. It was reopened five days later, on March 14. It was closed again on April 7 and reopened on May 26. The gate was closed for the third time on June 29, and is expected to be reopened again Wednesday or Thursday.
Juden also reported that as of Saturday the Merriwether Street pumping station has been in operation for 161 days. That's still well below the approximately 200 days the pumping station was in operation during the prolonged flooding of 1973.
The National Weather Service's 30-day forecast for the Mississippi River - issued Wednesday - calls for the river here to be at 34.1 by Sept. 8, 29.9 feet on Sept. 15, and 26.5 feet on Sept. 22. The forecast assumes no significant precipitation will occur north of Cape Girardeau after last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, on the east bank of the river, officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation and the commissioners of the East Cape Girardeau-Clear Creek Levee District are also waiting anxiously for early September. That's when the drain valves can be reopened to allow over four months of rainwater and seepwater that's accumulated behind the levee to start draining into the river again.
Levee Commissioner Bill Colyer has said the drain pipes under the levee, two of which are located near Gale, can be reopened when the river drops to around 30-32 foot on the Cape Girardeau gauge.
During the past two months, the rising seepwater inside the levee district forced Illinois to raise a section of Route 3 from near the Route 146-Route 3 junction southward to the levee at Gale, in order to keep the roadway open. Near the levee a sandbag levee was built along Route 3 in a futile attempt to keep the water off the road.
Finally, IDOT brought in two large pumps late this month and spotted them at the foot of the levee near Gale. They hope the pumps can prevent more seepwater from covering the highway between now and early September, when the drains are reopened.
A smaller section of Route 146, just east of East Cape Girardeau, was also raised after water started to cover the road.
Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:
For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.