The National Weather Service is still holding to its prediction of a 43-foot flood crest on the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau late Friday, even as more rain continued to fall Monday in parts of northern and central Missouri and Iowa and Illinois.

Although Friday's predicted crest is 13 feet above flood stage at Cape Girardeau, the downtown floodwall and earthen levee along the river from Sloan's Creek to Mill Street will keep the rising river out of much of the city's riverfront area.

But some Cape Girardeau residents who live near the river in unprotected areas outside the floodwall and levee in the Red Star and South Cape Girardeau area are preparing to flee the rising floodwaters, which could reach the highest level here in 10 years.

A few residents who live in South Cape Girardeau south of LaCruz Street between South Sprigg and the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks have already moved out. Others were preparing to do so today or Wednesday as the water rises.

The river here was at 37.4 feet on Monday. It is forecast to go to 38.9 feet today, 40.4 feet on Tuesday, and 41.7 feet on Thursday, with the 43-foot crest coming Friday night. The weather service said the crest could be revised upward if there is additional significant rain after Monday.

Cape Girardeau authorities said Monday that free sand is now available to residents of the city who want to sandbag their property. The sand may be picked up at the Main Street parking lot next to the floodwall just south of the Main Street Levee District's Merriwether Street pumping station.

Free empty sandbags are available from the Corps of Engineers. Anyone needing sandbags may pick them up at the Corps' Cape Girardeau office in the Federal Building, 339 Broadway, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. If large quantities of sandbags are needed, call the Corps office first at 335-3386.

Because water from the rising river will begin to cover several streets in the Red Star and South Cape Girardeau areas, in what is known as Smelterville, later today and Wednesday, the Cape Girardeau Office of Emergency Preparedness asks motorists to watch for barricades that will go up as the streets are closed to traffic.

Authorities also ask motorists not to drive through water-covered streets. That might cause additional damage to already flooded structures.

While the rising river is affecting only a small number of residents in Cape Girardeau, it is having an enormous impact on people and property from the St. Louis area northward.

Towns and cities along the Mississippi have suffered enormous damage from flooding, the region's worst in nearly 30 years. Millions of acres of farmland also have been flooded and officials are projecting heavy crop losses.

A levee broke early Monday near Peruque, at a sharp bend in the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, and threatened to flood 11 farmhouses in nearby St. Charles, authorities said.

Part of St. Charles' problem is that the flood-swollen Missouri River empties into the equally swollen Mississippi just a few miles northeast of St. Charles.

Some 400 St. Charles families that were uprooted by spring floods in April may be forced to flee their homes again.

The American Red Cross has opened five shelters in towns along the Mississippi. The shelters are in Hannibal, LaGrange, St. Charles and in Grafton, Ill., at the mouth of the Illinois River. The Red Cross has opened a field kitchen in Lincoln County, where meals are being prepared for volunteers filling sandbags and residents forced to flee their homes.

Residents of Kimmswick, south of St. Louis in Jefferson City, have been sandbagging through the weekend to form a levee on the south end of the town.

In Winfield, residents could only sit and watch on Saturday as a weak spot in a dirt levee gave way to the floodwaters. The water poured through a 30-foot crevasse just south of Lock and Dam 25, flooding thousands of acres of farmland in Lincoln County.

Flood stage at Winfield is 26 feet. The river was at 35 feet on Sunday, and rising. Normally, the river at Winfield is about a half-mile wide; now its five times that width. The rising water now threatens the homes of many of Winfield's 592 residents.

Gov. Mel Carnahan has ordered additional National Guard troops to assist in efforts to contain the flooding. Thirty guardsmen will serve in Hannibal and Clarksville and 25 more will keep watch on levees in the extreme northeast part of the state.

Flooding along the Missouri River forced the weekend evacuation of the Renz Womens Correctional Center near Jefferson City.