RIVER DROPS BUT RAIN STILL IN FORECAST

The Mississippi River dropped to 45.5 feet Thursday after reaching a crest Wednesday of 46.7 feet, 14.7 feet above flood stage.

The National Weather Service said if the weather pattern holds the next two weeks, the river would drop to 30 feet by Riverfest Weekend June 9 and 10.

However, if the forecast for flash flooding during Memorial Day Weekend proves accurate, the flooding situation could change overnight.

Cape Girardeau County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Brian Miller said it would take 2 to 3 inches of flash-flood rain to prompt officials to send sandbags to the Town Plaza area.

"If we get a half-inch rain north of Jackson we're not in a situation that would be cause for alarm," Miller said.

Some 2,500 sandbags have been filled in the Red Star District and loaded onto a tractor-trailer truck and can be transported to the Schnucks parking lot in a matter of 30 minutes.

"All of the sandbags that we needed have been filled," Emergency Operations Committee Director Mark Hasheider said. "Now we just need to make sure we know who will be here over the weekend if we need to call them."

The police department has upgraded its automatic dialer system, which is used to contact city and county officials as quickly as possible, and will implement the system if flash flooding occurs in the area.

The fire department has four boats and two portable pumps ready for use along with life vests and life lines for rapid water rescue.

If the weather pattern doesn't change dramatically in the next few days, the Mississippi is expected to drop to 45.2 feet today, 44.1 feet on Saturday and 43.4 feet on Sunday and Monday.

The river is expected to rise slightly to 44.4 next Thursday before dropping down to 43.5 on Friday.

Rains over the past three days have caused the Mississippi to rise sharply between Quincy, Ill., and St. Louis, National Weather Service hydrologist Jack Burns said Thursday.

Cities such as Hannibal, Louisiana and Clarksville will see crests about 7 feet above flood stage on Sunday, Burns said. Along that portion of the Mississippi, the new crests will exceed last week's high-water marks by 1-2 feet, Burns said. Still, officials projected few major problems.

The Missouri River, the source of much of the serious flooding this year, is also going back up. But not much.

In other developments:

-- In Hermann, Missouri 19 remained closed just north of the Missouri River bridge because floodwaters had washed away a 300-foot-long section of roadway. The hole is 35 feet deep. Efforts to fill the hole are being hampered by the renewed rise of the river, Hermann officials said Thursday.

The shut-down roadway is making it all but impossible for residents who live north of the bridge to get to jobs in Hermann, Chamber of Commerce president Phyllis Hannan said Thursday. School buses are also being forced to go several miles out of their way to get children to the last few days of school before summer vacation.

-- At Ste. Genevieve, volunteers continued to fill sandbags to shore up a levee protecting the historic downtown area. The river is not expected to approach Monday's crest.

-- Near Boonville, a 117-car Union Pacific freight train remained stranded after floodwaters washed away a 600-foot section of track. Railroad officials estimated it would be about two days before the track was fixed.

-- In St. Charles, volunteers will renew sandbagging efforts on Friday. "It's more for the potential of flash flooding if we get heavy rains - creeks are so saturated they will not be able to absorb much of the rainfall, and they would rise very quickly," county emergency management spokeswoman Petra Haws said Thursday.