RIVER TO TOP FLOOD STAGE

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau is forecast to crest 2 feet above the 32-foot flood stage on Sunday.

No serious flooding occurs at that stage, but the rising river has stopped construction of a new section of the Fayville levee near Olive Branch, Ill.

The National Weather Service at St. Charles said heavy rains and snow across the upper Mississippi River, Missouri River, and Illinois River watersheds this week are responsible for the sharp rise.

The Mississippi here rose 11.4 feet between Sunday and Thursday. It rose 8.1 feet between Tuesday and Thursday.

On Thursday the river here stood at 27.6 feet. It was forecast to rise to 31.6 feet today, 33.5 feet on Saturday, and crest on Sunday, at 34.1 feet.

At Chester the river is forecast to crest on Saturday at 28.2 feet. Flood stage at Chester is 27 feet.

The Ohio River at Cairo remains above the 40-foot flood stage. On Thursday it was at 46.2 feet. It is forecast to rise to 47.3 today, 48 feet on Saturday, and to crest Monday at 48.5 feet.

The Main Street Levee District's Merriwether Street Pumping Station was opened Thursday afternoon. The station goes into operation when the river reaches 30 feet at Cape Girardeau.

The Themis Street floodgate does not have to be closed until the river reaches 35 feet.

The weekend flood crest is bad news for Allen White. He's the Illinois Department of Transportation's resident engineer in charge of the Fayville levee repair project.

During last year's flood a section of the agricultural levee was breached by the Mississippi River just south of Miller City, creating a huge scour hole and damaging thousands of acres of farmland and buildings in west Alexander County. Since the first of the year, the state and the levee district have been working two 10-hour shifts per day seven days a week to build 10,000 feet of new levee to close the breach.

"On Tuesday we basically stopped all new work on the levee and turned our attention on shoring up the 8,000 feet of new levee that's already been built," said White. "We have built the new levee up to a height of 332 feet above sea level, which should give us about 2 to 3 feet of freeboard."

White said the new levee extends from the existing levee north of the breach to a point southeast of the Miller City-to-Cache road.

"There will be some water coming in around the 2,000-foot section of uncompleted levee south of the breach, but the water will flow into Horseshoe Lake," he said.

When the levee is completed, it will be built to a height of 342 feet above sea level.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers said the high water is not expected to affect work on repairs to the Bois Brule levee in east Perry County.

Bill Gidcomb, resident manager of project, said as of last week the new section of the levee was built to a height of 377 feet above sea level, which would offer protection up to 43 feet on the Chester gauge. Said Gidcomb, "We had planned to have the new levee up to about 380 msl, but the wet weather has delayed that."

Although there is no danger of water topping the unfinished levee, Gidcomb said: "We certainly do not need a lot of water pushing up against the levee right now. There is no grass or vegetation to project the levee from water erosion, and the earth inside the levee has not had enough time to compact to provide good flood protection."

Barring any additional significant precipitation after this week, the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo is expected to drop back to near seasonal levels by mid-March.

At Chester the river is forecast to drop to 24.3 feet by March 2, down to 18.5 feet by March 9, 11 feet on March 16, and 9.5 feet on March 23.

At Cape Girardeau, the river is forecast to drop to 29 feet on March 2, down to 22.7 feet on March 9, 15.2 feet on March 16, and 11.1 feet on March 23.

At Cairo the Ohio should remain above flood stage for at least the first 10 days of March. It is forecast to drop to 48.3 feet on March 2, 41.1 feet on March 9, 32.9 feet on March 16, and 28.8 feet on March 23.

"Keep in mind these are the minimum levels we expect during the next 30 days," said Jack Burns, hydrologist with the National Weather Service.