WHAT A DIFFERENCE FIVE YEARS MAKE ON THE RIVER

What a difference five years make.

In the summer of 1988, the region was in the grips of a devastating drought which plunged the Mississippi River to record lows. Five years ago this month - on July 13 - the river dropped to 4.7 feet at Cape Girardeau. The waters receded even further in September and October when readings bottomed out at 4.4 feet.

Today, heavy rains in the upper Mississippi River watershed have flooded Minnesota to Missouri. For the third time this week, the National Weather Service has revised its Cape Girardeau flood crest upward. The crest is now expected at 38.5 feet next Friday. The river has remained at flood stage for much of April, May and the latter part of June.

Since March, the Mississippi has crested six times at Cape Girardeau. The most recent high came April 20 at 40.6 feet - still well below the all-time record flood crest of 45.6 feet in Cape on May 1, 1973.

The Themis Street floodgate was closed Tuesday, and the Broadway gate will be latched early next week. If not for the flood wall, the downtown area would be in sorry shape. Water Street would probably live up to its name.

We're glad to hear that the high waters probably won't cancel Saturday's stopovers by the Mississippi and Delta Queens. They are expected to dock at the Cape Girardeau riverfront around 11 a.m., and leave around 3 p.m. High waters are already to blame for the lack of river activities at this year's Riverfest.

Low water during the summer of 1988 grew progressively worse - bottoming out in December 1989. On Dec. 28 of that year, the reading on the river gauge at Cape Girardeau receded to 1.3 feet. A 200-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo was closed due to low water and icy conditions. That level wasn't much above the all-time low at Cape Girardeau of 0.6 feet recorded Jan. 15, 1909.

But those record lows seem a distant memory. Those hardest hit by the recent flooding are river towns north of here. The U.S. Corps of Engineers has shut down most of the locks between St. Louis and St. Paul, a move which has idled more than 500 miles of river traffic.

This June flooding is certainly unusual. Typically, the waters rise as the northern ice and snow melts. The Corps is predicting the heavy summer rains may result in the second-highest flood level on record for the Mississippi. These heavy rains may bring other worries as Midwest plantings have lagged behind and those crops in the field have been waterlogged. Governors of Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois are seeking federal disaster assistance for farmers. In Iowa alone, more than 27 inches of rain has drenched fields since November.

The river shutdown has halted shipments of grain, coal, farm chemicals and fertilizers - all major commodities carried by river barges. Grain commodity prices have edged upward, and concerns have already been raised about higher food prices.

Today's high waters push aside memories of the recent drought. Our river door can bring bounty or misfortune. Over the years, Mississippi river towns have simply learned to live with the water's ebb and flow.