No problems locally with river set to crest

Pictured is the view of the flooded bottoms near the Jefferson Barracks in Columbia from the top of the levee on Friday afternoon. (Corey Saathoff photo)

With severe flooding problems seen just across the Mississippi River in Jefferson County, Mo., Monroe County appears to have made it through the worst of this latest high-water period due to heavy rains experienced over the past week.

The Mississippi River is expected to crest at 41.8 feet in St. Louis on Saturday, which would be its fifth highest crest on record. This crest would fall just shy of the Jan. 1, 2016 crest of 42.52 feet, and more than 7.5 feet below the ominous record of 49.58 feet set during the Flood of 1993. The river measured at 41.5 feet on Friday.

Monroe County Emergency Management Agency Director Ryan Weber said there have been a few sand boils reported this week along the local levee system, but no major problems have surfaced to this point. Bluff Road was closed between Hanover Road and HH Road late Tuesday evening.

Weber added that in Prairie du Rocher, volunteers were requested late Friday morning for sandbagging at Fort de Chartres.

Further south, the Chester Bridge in Randolph County was closed Thursday for just the third time in its 75-year history due to high water. The bridge also closed during the New Year’s Flood of 2016 and during the Flood of 1993.

The metro-east received more than nine inches of rain over the past nine days, the National Weather Service in St. Louis reported.

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Corey Saathoff

Corey is the editor of the Republic-Times. He has worked at the newspaper since 2004, and currently resides in Columbia. He is also the principal singer-songwriter and plays guitar in St. Louis area country-rock band The Trophy Mules.
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