UNRULY WIND, HEAVY RAINS WALLOP AREA

A severe thunderstorm watch expired at 7 Saturday evening in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, bringing a forecast of clearing skies and respite from two days of persistent rain and Saturday's gusting winds.

Nearly five inches of rain fell on the Cape Girardeau area between midnight Thursday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

On Saturday, the rain was matched with strong wind gusts of nearly 40 mph and sustained winds of 30 mph, the Missouri Weather Cooperative at the Municipal Airport said.

A spokesman said the sustained winds over five or six hours Saturday "are probably the strongest winds we've had in several months."

At least one power outage was reported in the Cape Girardeau area in the vicinity of the airport Saturday, lasting from about 10:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

A "swamped" Union Electric dispatcher said outages were occurring all over Southeast Missouri Saturday afternoon because of the winds and could provide no further information.

At 4 p.m. Saturday, a storm cell not visible on radar at the National Weather Service in Paducah was reported moving through Bollinger County.

A sheriff's department spokesperson said the storm caused no additional damage.

More than seven inches of rain reportedly fell in Bollinger County in the 24-hour period ending at 7 a.m. Saturday. Crooked Creek left its banks in Marble Hill Saturday morning, causing some street closures but no major damage.

"Right now the water is going down," Bollinger County Sheriff's Deputy Allen Baker said Saturday afternoon.

Highway H was closed to about one mile north of Highway 51 near Zalma Saturday morning. Baker said the Castor River was five feet over the roadway.

More than 6 1/2 inches of rain reportedly fell in Wayne County in the period since the storm hit. In Doniphan, the Current River was seven feet above normal.

"Trees are down and the river's coming up a little," a dispatcher for the sheriff's department said. "But we think it's going to hold it's own."

Many creeks in the Cape Girardeau area were swollen Saturday, but a fallen tree at Good Hope and Henderson streets was the only damage in the city reported to police.

Police also blamed the weather for a rash of fender benders in the city Saturday.