ST. LOUIS – The Mississippi River climbed toward its high-water mark yesterday at St. Louis and was expected to crest over the next couple of days at points downriver, but the worst of the flood of 2008 appeared to be over.
The National Weather Service said the river was leveling off at St. Louis at slightly less than 9 feet above flood stage and was expected to stay there into today before slowly falling, barring more torrential rain to the north.
The high water wasn't causing any major problems because low-lying areas are protected by a floodwall and the downtown area rises sharply from the river. Along the river, the President Casino remained closed, as did a few riverboat excursions and a bike rental business near the Gateway Arch.
At Ste. Genevieve, a quaint village of 4,400 people 64 miles south of St. Louis, this year's flood fight is nothing like the one in 1993, when hundreds of volunteers barely managed to hold back the swollen river. This year's crest at Ste. Genevieve, while well above flood stage, will be about 12 feet short of the '93 record, and a $41 million levee has been built to protect the French Colonial village, which dates to 1735.
The only problems were relatively minor – water closed a highway in a couple of spots around nearby St. Mary, some agricultural land was flooded.
The river at Cape Girardeau in southeast Missouri is expected to crest at 42.5 feet tomorrow, 12.5 feet above flood stage. Thousands of acres of farmland are flooded, but a floodwall protects Cape Girardeau and most of its 36,000 residents.
