RIVER STILL RISING, SET TO CREST TUESDAY

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau is expected to crest at 38 feet Tuesday evening, six feet above flood stage.

The National Weather Service in St. Louis reported the river in Cape Girardeau at 35.8 feet Saturday morning, a rise of .86 feet from Friday.

The forecast is for the river to rise to 36.5 feet today, 37.2 feet Monday and 37.7 feet Tuesday morning, with the crest following that evening.

No flooding had been reported in the city's low-lying areas as of Saturday. Weather forecasters, however, were calling for the possibility of severe thunderstorms and flash flood warnings overnight.

Chris Horne, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., said a front on the Kansas-Missouri border Saturday afternoon could trigger the severe thunderstorms.

"There's a lot of available moisture," he said. "I don't think there will be any wind damage, but there may be large hail."

With the rising river, the Diversion Channel south of Cape Girardeau has been outside its usual banks for weeks, flooding farmland to the north.

A bridge along the partially-flooded access road to the channel has become a popular spot for bow fishing, gigging and snagging.

About 20 people lined the bridge late Saturday afternoon. Among the most successful bow fishermen were Jim "Spook" Morrison and his 13-year-old son, Jeremiah, of Sikeston, and their friend Andy McClain of Oran.

With Tina Standridge of Cape Girardeau doing the spotting, they estimated a weekend take of 200 fish, most of them inedible gar along with some buffalo, carp and a few grinnell.

The gar, some ranging toward three feet long, were killed and thrown back at the edge of the water, where they are eaten by turtles and other gar.

"We shoot trash," Jim Morrison said.

The flooding along the channel will fluctuate with the Mississippi, said Larry Dowdy, executive vice president in charge of maintenance for the Little River Drainage District.

"It's tied to the river. Whatever the river is doing the Diversion Channel is doing."

Dowdy said he isn't aware of any damage that has occurred to the district's levees thus far.

The city's flood control system likewise is secure at this point.

"There are not major problems. We really are safe until we get up to the 40s," said David McLain, a pump operator working Saturday at the Cape Girardeau Main Street Levee District.

The district closed its Themis Street floodgate when the river reached 33.5 feet and was rising Wednesday.

The Broadway gate is closed at 38.7 feet. The Frisco Railroad gate near William Street isn't closed until the river rises to 47.7 feet.