WATERS FALL, BUT NUMBING STATS REMAIN

Waters from the "Flood of 1993" are receding slowly, but the record flood's aftermath is leaving behind some numbing statistics.

Millions of acres of crop land have been affected in Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. Raging waters have wiped out more than 1,900 levees in the Midwest.

Highways, railroads, businesses and homes along the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers have suffered damages of up to $5 billion in Missouri and from $15 to $20 billion in the Midwest.

Thousands of jobs have been lost and more are being lost each week the flooding continues.

Waters are receding from record levels, but officials say it could be mid-September before the rivers return to normal stages.

Saturday's Mississippi River stage in Cape Girardeau was 41.7 feet, still nearly 10 feet above the 32-foot flood stage, but well under the 48-foot crest of two weeks ago.

Motorists traveling in Southern Illinois may find the going slow along a three- or four-mile stretch from East Cape Girardeau to Gale. The road level has been raised with gravel, but some water can be found across the road near Gale.

Two routes from Cape Girardeau to Chester remain closed, said an Illinois State Police spokesman. Route 3 is closed south of Chester, forcing traffic to detour through the Murphysboro area in Southern Illinois.

The bridge from Chester to Southeast Missouri also is closed because of water across the road leading to the bridge in Southeast Missouri.

One highway that was closed in the immediate Southeast Missouri area Route 25 from Gordonville to Dutchtown was reopened last week.

Farming has been hit hard in the region, with more than three million acres of crop land damaged in Missouri, affecting nearly 20 percent of the state's total crops. More than 120,000 acres of crop-land has been under water in Southeast Missouri.

Alexander County is one of the hardest-hit area in Illinois. More than half of the 57,000 acres of farmland in the county is under water. Additional Alexander County land might have been saved by the Fayville Levee, which was reported still in tact late Saturday.

"The Corps of Engineers sent us six barges of rock to help us fight a crack in the levee Thursday," said Alexander County Commissioner Louis Maze. "We started filling in the weakened levee Thursday morning and placed about 10,000 tons of stone there by Friday evening. We think it will hold now."

If the Fayville Levee breached, thousands more acres of farmland would be under Mississippi River backwaters.

Perry County in Missouri has been heavily affected, with as many as 28,000 acres about a third of the county's crop land under water.

Reports from other counties show Mississippi County with about 20,000 to 25,000 acres under water; Cape Girardeau county with about 21,000 acres under water; Scott County with 11,000 acres under water; and Union County in Southern Illinois with about 12,000 acres under water.

However, there are some good crops in the area.

"It's been a strange year," said Terry Birk of the Cape Girardeau County ASCS office. "Early on it was wet and got wetter. Now, we're suffering through some drought conditions."

Birk said crops are "really varied.

"We have some good crops, some poor crops and in the case of the flood lands, no crops."

Greg Townley, ASCS director in Perry County, agrees.

"Most of the crops in the hill areas are doing well," he said. "We have some good crops. But, about a third of total agriculture land is under water."

The Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service reports that statewide, soybean yields are expected to be 25 percent below last year's production of 161.5 million bushels. Corn will be down about 38 percent, mostly due to flooding.

Meanwhile, towboats with barges are testing the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to see whether commercial navigation can resume, the Coast Guard said Saturday.

Four towboats and an airplane set out Saturday to check the river channel as the water continued to recede, the Coast Guard said.

"So far all are progressing without any problems, but there's still work to be done," said Lt. Tim Deal of the Coast Guard.

The towboats were headed south toward Cairo, Ill. from Winfield, St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve on the Mississippi, and from Pearl, Ill., on the Illinois.

Several towboats will continue the evaluation today by working their way up river, Deal said. After the test runs are completed, the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and representatives from the barge industry will make a decision about reopening the waterways, he added.