As Mississippi River crest approaches, voluntary evacuations underway
(Editor’s Note: The Mississippi River and other rivers’ crests are constantly being updated throughout the day. Check the National Weather Service’s website here for the most up-to-date crest forecast.)
As the expected crest of the swollen Mississippi River approaches, officials around the area are still dealing with rising flood waters and preparing for “worst case” scenarios.
The Mississippi is now forecast to crest at 45.9 feet Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service, marking the second-highest the river has ever been in the area in modern times. The river will be just shy of the Great Flood of 1993 record of 49.6 feet.
As of 10:30 a.m. Friday, the Mississippi had reached 45.5 feet at St. Louis, 35.1 at Grafton and 38.7 in Alton. The Kaskaskia River also had reached 91.4 feet. Both rivers have been closed or restricted.
In St. Clair, Monroe and Madison counties, though, the fight against flood waters may be far from over.
In Monroe County residents in low lying areas near the Mississippi and other bodies of water are being urged to voluntarily evacuate from their homes, Sheriff Neal Rohlfing said in a press release.
“I encourage all residents to consider the voluntary evacuation and put plans in place to do so,” he said. “This is a rapidly evolving situation and the crest has changed multiple times over the past several days. With the forecast of additional rainfall, this could further complicate the situation.”
A contingency plan is also in place for the possible levee failure in the Columbia area North of Fountain Creek. Rohlfing said, while there is no threat of a levee compromise failure if one happened in that area, the county would breach the Mississippi River levee North of Fountain Creek.
“I want to reiterate that we have no information that we will have a levee failure but we want to plan for any emergency situation that we may face,” he said. “This was a difficult decision but the experts feel this could save the remainder of the county South of Fountain Creek.”
Contingency plans are also in place for levee failures at the Fountain Creek South Levee and Southern Monroe County levee.
A checkpoint system has been set up in flooded areas that have been restricted to only residents and properties owners. Some people helping residents evacuate are being allowed into the area.
Valmeyer High School has been designated as a shelter for those who evacuate from their homes.
In St. Clair County, officials made more arrests on the levees Thursday night for trespassers. The county’s Emergency Management Agency, with the help of local police and National Guard members, have been patrolling the levees around the clock in an effort to keep people out of the area.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker deployed 400 National Guard to areas in Illinois affected by flooding. Two-hundred members, part of Task Force 2, have been sent to the Metro East to assist in flood fighting efforts. That includes sandbagging, levee patrol and more.
St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency officials said in a press release that Sunday’s crest doesn’t mark the end of flooding and that the county would be requesting additional soldiers from the National Guard.
“We continue to stress that just because the Crest arrives we will still have a period of days before we see a substantial slow fall,” a press release read. “Therefore due to the saturated ground, we have requested more National Guard members to expand the coverage of our levee system.”
Currently, St. Clair is preemptively prepared for a “worst case” scenario, but do not anticipate such an event.
Saturation is a worry for area officials, as the river isn’t expected to reach a “low” flooding stage until for another week and a half, according to the National Weather Service. That’s barring any activity upstream or in the Missouri River Basin, which feeds into the Mississippi.
Senior Hydrologist Mark Fuchs with the St. Louis branch of the National Weather Service said precipitation in those areas in the next few weeks will be minimal. However, he said, the coming months have a high probability for above average precipitation.
ROAD CLOSURES
Over the past several weeks, the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Missouri Department of Transportation have announced road closures due to flooding of the Mississippi River in and near the metro-east area.
Those include the following:
Illinois 108 from Eldred to Illinois 96, which includes the Kampsville Ferry
The Chester Bridge, which has been closed by the Missouri Department of Transportation since Sunday
The Levee Gates at Illinois 3/111 in East Alton
Illinois 100 from U.S. 67 in Alton to Illinois 16 in Jersey County
U.S. 67 @ IL 100 in Alton
Illinois 3 Truck By-Pass (Water Street) in Chester
IL 155 outside of Prairie du Rocher
Brussels Ferry
Kaskaskia Street in Chester
IL 100 in Calhoun County from just North of the Joe Page Bridge to Pearl
Illinois 96 from County Highway 2 to Crooked Creek Hollow Road near Mozier, Calhoun County (Illinois 96 from Crooked Creek Hollow Road north to Pike County Line is open to local traffic)
Illinois 3 at Mary’s River to the Jackson County line in Randolph County
Several roads near and in Valmeyer in Monroe County
The Mississippi River may be falling at Missouri and Illinois towns generally north of St. Louis, but it remains dangerously high, continuing to stress waterlogged levees.
The river reached near-record levels after weeks of heavy rains across the central U.S. Levees at several spots already have been topped or breached. The river has been above flood stage for most of the spring, creating concern that more levees could succumb.
Water continues to cover the road between the river and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, where the Mississippi is more than 15 feet above flood stage and expected to rise slightly higher before cresting on Sunday.
The St. Louis level is the second-highest on record, topped only by the 1993 flood.
Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
This story was originally published June 7, 2019 at 11:14 AM.