-
Tips for becoming a good boxer - November 6, 2020
-
7 expert tips for making your hens night a memorable one - November 6, 2020
-
5 reasons to host your Christmas party on a cruise boat - November 6, 2020
-
What to do when you’re charged with a crime - November 6, 2020
-
Should you get one or multiple dogs? Here’s all you need to know - November 3, 2020
-
A Guide: How to Build Your Very Own Magic Mirror - February 14, 2019
-
Our Top Inspirational Baseball Stars - November 24, 2018
-
Five Tech Tools That Will Help You Turn Your Blog into a Business - November 24, 2018
-
How to Indulge on Vacation without Expanding Your Waist - November 9, 2018
-
5 Strategies for Businesses to Appeal to Today’s Increasingly Mobile-Crazed Customers - November 9, 2018
Interstate highways reopen in flood-ravaged St. Louis area
Thousands of people were evacuated from Missouri and IL as the Mississippi River crested at near-record heights.
Advertisement
“We’re just basically homeless”, Damon Thorne said.
ST. LOUIS (AP) – The worst of the risky, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several water-logged communities to assess damage, clean up and figure out how to bounce back – or in some cases, where to live.
The flooding was “also occurring on the Arkansas River and tributaries in Arkansas”.
Workers in Tennessee were preparing yesterday for the Mississippi River in Memphis to reach flood stage over the weekend. By Friday, it was relenting, but not before some points topped the 1993 record by 4 feet.
In West Alton, Mo., a Mississippi River town near the convergence with the also-elevated Missouri River just north of St. Louis, evacuees couldn’t return yet because floodwaters continued to pour over the levee, Mayor Willie Richter said.
The city of 300,000 is protected by floodgates, but many surrounding suburbs and downriver towns are not.
St. Louis County’s chief executive lifted a state of emergency Friday, CNN affiliate KTVI reported.
An all-time high-water mark is now expected in southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau, with the rising water damaging homes, threatening a power substation, and forcing a neighboring small town to become an island, at least for a few days. Four others are still missing – two teenagers in IL and two men in southwest Missouri. Since the great flood of 1993, too many levees have popped up to protect uninhabited land, he said.
Several major rivers, including the MS, were expected to crest on Thursday on or above record levels as flood waters rushed toward the Gulf of Mexico, the National Weather Service said. He was also watching computer projections of the crest – expected to be about 3 feet higher than the record of 40 feet on Thursday – knowing that an unexpected upgrade could be enough to send water over the levee.
Hours earlier, southbound lanes of Interstate 55 reopened south of St. Louis.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant took to Twitter to ask President Barack Obama to declare a major disaster declaration for affected areas “ahead of Mississippi River flooding ahead in the coming days”.
Two cars are seen submerged in floodwater in a park Monday in Kimmswick, Mo.
Both interstates 55 and 44 reopened on Friday, but many other roads remained closed in the St. Louis area, state officials said, causing extreme traffic congestion. Gen. Steve Danner, adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard, said. A water plant closed at High Ridge.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as the waters moved south toward his state.
Advertisement
That confidence was of little consolation to Tim Meeks, who was loading vats of gourmet olive oil from his downtown market onto a trailer headed to higher ground as other employees worked to drain a basement filled with 7 feet of standing water. In a statement on Friday, Rauner said the step means soldiers will be ready at a moment’s notice for local communities as flood waters could continue to rise over the weekend.