Towns north of here hope worst of flood is over

ST. LOUIS -- Officials in several Mississippi River towns were cautiously optimistic Thursday they'll soon emerge from this year's flood with relatively minor damage.

Water levels were dropping in several places, including Clarksville, Missouri, where a furious sandbagging effort over the past week has protected homes and businesses in the town of 450 residents.

The river was at or near crest in the nearby Missouri towns of Elsberry, Foley and Winfield. Winfield City Clerk Roschell Eaton said a foot of dirt was added to the top of the levee protecting the town, and the levee was holding.

Not that she was taking anything for granted.

"It's a levee and it's the river -- it's unpredictable," Eaton said.

In Foley, inmates from a county jail filled sandbags and placed them atop a levee protecting the town of 160 residents. Sandbags also patched places where water was leaking through the earthen levee.

"There were little spots but we got them all," Mayor Ken Jaspering said. "It's always dangerous, don't get me wrong. But in this case, we were on top of it."

In Grafton, Illinois, a marina closed and a downtown barbecue restaurant was evacuated after floodwater swamped one small section of downtown's main thoroughfare. Police Chief Chris Sullivan said the rest of the town, a popular tourist spot 40 miles north of St. Louis, was open for business.

The flood arose suddenly after torrential rains in the upper Midwest in the past two weeks. In many parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, the flood was among the 10 highest on record.

But unlike some recent floods, the water is falling quickly, which bodes well for levees -- the more saturated they become, the more likely they are to break.

In Cape Girardeau, the river rose to 33.14 feet -- about a foot above flood stage. It is forecast to crest at 36 feet by Monday.

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Associated Press writer Jim Suhr in St. Louis contributed to this report.