Flooding forcing evacuations, traffic troubles in Missouri

A rare winter flood threatened almost two dozen federal… A man crosses Smizer Mill Road in southwest St. Louis County, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015.

While the smaller tributaries of the MS will crest quickly following the tremendous rainfall from the storms near Christmas, the larger tributaries and the MS itself will take an extended period of time to crest and then fall below flood stage.

And even though the river is dropping, “it will leave behind a mess”, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Two men row after helping a business owner inside at a convenience store in Fenton, Missouri, on Wednesday.

Homes are surrounded by floodwater on December 30, 2015, in Pacific, Missouri.

As the Meramec River swelled to more than 20 feet above flood level, traffic on the interstate was backed up for miles.

Other connections between St. Louis and adjacent counties already are closed, including I-44 over the Meramec.

Livestock also has been hard hit.

Rivers and streams in the Midwest have been pushed to heights not seen in almost a quarter-century after more than 10 inches of rain fell this week in a wide swath from central IL through southwest Missouri.

The government-affiliated Environment Agency said more than 6,700 homes in northern England were flooded during the last week as river levels reached all-time highs. Parts of St. Louis are already underwater as the confluence of the Missouri River and the MS roil the city’s shipping front and close the St. Louis harbor.

“I think you’re seeing people who are desperate or impatient, putting themselves in predicaments”, said Scott Barthelmass, a Eureka Fire Protection District spokesman.

The Mississippi River, the third longest river in North America, is expected to crest over the weekend at Thebes, Illinois, at 47.5 feet, more than a foot and a half (46 cm) above the 1995 record, according to the National Weather Service.

Almost a dozen other levees considered at risk for “possible significant distress”, were holding Thursday, but people were moving out just in case.

Flood-hit parts of the nation were under threat of a “slow-motion disaster”, forecasters warned Thursday as rivers swelled to historic levels and authorities closed a major Interstate. The floodwaters there also destroyed a leftover film set used in the 2003 remake of “Where the Red Fern Grows”.

The National Guard has been activated in Missouri and the governor of Louisiana has declared a state of emergency in advance of expected flooding in that state. Valley Park City officials told The Independent on Wednesday that nearly 1,000 people were estimated to have been evacuated over the floods. The MR&T is a complex series of backwaters, levees, spillways, floodways, fuse plugs, and control structures, like the one at Old River Control Complex, which have been known to tremble as they try to keep the river in its designated place.

“The other alternates that we would have sent motorists to basically have water on them as well”, Elliott said.

Pennise said the corps is confident the levee, built in 2007, is safe, but ordered evacuations as a precaution.

In the southwestern Missouri tourist mecca of Branson, residents of about 150 duplexes and homes had to evacuate on Wednesday because a manmade lake flooded. Rainfall totals of that magnitude occur only every 100 to 300 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Deadly floods in the Midwestern United States have broken records and devastated hundreds of families forced from their homes.