AP
June 23, 2008
LOUISIANA, Mo. - The upper Mississippi River was expected to reach its high point yesterday, cresting at several spots north of St. Louis after rising for weeks and flooding towns in Missouri and Illinois.
National Weather Service forecasters said the river would crest at points from Canton, Mo., not far from the Iowa state line, through Clarksville, a town about 70 miles north of St. Louis.
At St. Louis, where the river reached crest levels on Saturday, measurements were more than 12 feet below the '93 record.
While not record setting, the devastation was still widespread: The storms and flooding that started in early June have forced thousands from their homes across six states, killing 24 and injuring roughly 150. Rural areas such as Lincoln County, Mo., suffered the worst. There, more than 300 homes were flooded after more than 90 percent of the county's levees were overtopped.
Weather-service meteorologist Ben Miller said rivers will start to recede early this week after remaining at crest level for longer than initially expected. Because a series of levee breaches let water spread over a wide swath of land in Missouri and Illinois, Miller said, that water will take time to drain back into the river and flow downstream.
"You don't have as high a crest, but yet you still have higher levels for a long period had [the levees] not broken."
