WEATHER SERVICE LOWERS CREST FORECAST

The National Weather Service has good news for those weary of the rain, high water and warm temperatures.

On Saturday, the weather service lowered by a half foot Monday's predicted flood crest on the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau.

In addition, forecasters said the stalled frontal system that's dumped more than five inches of rain at the Cape Girardeau airport since Thursday will finally move out of the region later tonight, just ahead of a strong push of cold high pressure from Canada.

Unfortunately, the news isn't so good in the East Cape Girardeau area, where the Illinois Department of Transportation continues its battle to keep the last remaining highway linking Missouri and Illinois over the Mississippi River open between St. Louis and Cairo.

Instead of cresting at 41 feet, forecasters at the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center at Slidell, La., now expect the river at Cape Girardeau to crest Monday at 40.5 feet.

At that stage, several streets in Red Star and South Sprigg will have to be closed again. Police said North End Boulevard, near the intersection with Big Bend Road, was closed Saturday because of rising backwater from Sloan's Creek.

It's expected parts of North Main and North Water, north of Sloan's Creek, and a portion of South Sprigg and nearby streets, north of Cape LaCroix Creek, will have to be closed today.

The Mississippi at Cape Girardeau was forecast to rise to 39.5 feet today, crest on Monday, and fall back to 40 feet on Tuesday.

At St. Louis, the Mississippi has already crested. It was at 36.3 feet on Saturday and was forecast to drop to 34.8 today, 32.9 on Monday and 31.3 on Tuesday.

Parts of western Missouri received 4-7 inches of rain on Friday, while amounts ranging from 4-6 inches fell Thursday along the Missouri River, from Jefferson City to St. Louis and parts of Southeast Missouri. At least three people have been killed in Missouri since Thursday because of flash flooding

The Cape Girardeau airport measured 5.17 inches of rain from early Thursday to noon Saturday. Of that amount, 2.44 inches fell between 2-7 a.m. on Thursday. Nearly an inch (.96) fell between 7 a.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. on Friday. Another 1.77 inches of rain fell from 7 a.m. Friday to noon Saturday. Despite last week's heavy rainfall, authorities said there were no major flooding problems on Thursday or Saturday morning in Cape Girardeau County.

But the same cannot be said in the East Cape Girardeau area, where the surface water continues to rise as the rain continues to fall. Over five inches of rain has fallen since Thursday inside the East Cape Girardeau-Clear Creek Levee District that extends from near Gale northward to McClure, Ill.

The trapped surface water cannot drain into the river until it drops to at least 34 feet on the Cape Girardeau gauge.

Early today, the Illinois Department of Transportation was scheduled to begin dumping more than 19,000 tons of rock on Route 146, between East Cape Girardeau and Illinois Highway 3 in an effort to keep the highway above the rising surface water.

During the four-day project, department officials warned of traffic delays of an hour.

An emergency contract has been awarded to E.T. Simonds Construction Co., of Carbondale to haul the rock.

Heavy rains that have fallen inside the levee district since Thursday have resulted in surface water over more than a mile of pavement along Route 146. On Saturday morning, the water varied from one to five inches in depth. It's expected the surface water near the highway may be up to 10 inches deep in places by this morning.

"The road is currently open to traffic and motorists are not experiencing too much difficulty," said Karl Bartelsmeyer, district engineer. "Our personnel are monitoring the situation around the clock and are available to provide help to any motorists needing it."

Bartelsmeyer urges motorists to use extreme caution while passing through the area, and he asks that they be patient with delays.

The Illinois Department of Transportation also expects the delivery of six more large pumps Monday, to be installed near Gale, Ill. They will pump the flood waters over the levee back into the Mississippi River. Included is one 42-inch pump coming down from upstate Illinois.

The pumps will supplement four the department has been using since the middle of August to try to keep the surface water from rising any higher along Route 146.

With the closure last week of Missouri Route 51, between McBride and the Chester Bridge, Route 146 across the Mississippi River Bridge at Cape Girardeau is the only bi-state route that remains open between Cairo and St. Louis.

Highways aren't the only modes of transportation affected by this latest round of flooding on the Mississippi. The Burlington Northern Railroad, which was finally able to reopen its St. Louis-to-Memphis River Division Line, between Chaffee and St. Louis, on Sept. 17, was forced to close the tracks six days later.

Amtrak has been forced to detour its north and southbound Texas Eagles between Chicago and San Antonio over the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroad tracks between East St. Louis, Scott City and Dexter. The Amtrak trains normally use the UP's DeSoto Subdivision line, between St. Louis and Poplar Bluff.

The weather service says after another period of showers and thunderstorms today, much cooler Canadian air is pushing rapidly southward toward Southeast Missouri. It should arrive on Monday, with gusty winds. Highs Tuesday will only be in the upper 50s. By mid-week, low temperatures will dip into the low 40s, with highs in the mid to upper 50s and low 60s.