Officials close both directions of I-55 due to flooding

Not surprisingly, it was bumper to bumper throughout the day.

But many places around the St. Louis are less fortunate, and water has submerged neighborhoods, schools, and shopping centers, carried off whole houses and killed 14 people in the state. Officials said I-44 likely will remain closed through at least Friday. Two rivers west of St. Louis crested at historic levels. Local traffic can get to Bowles Ave. only.

The southbound lanes have high levels of water covering the road and there is no estimate yet on when that water will recede so the southbound lanes can open.

States of emergency have been declared in these states: Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Louisiana and Missouri, according to data from the National Guard Bureau.

Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific says in a statement that 70 trains in the St. Louis area have been held or rerouted because of high water levels.

He said he lived through similar flooding in 1993.

Engineers are holding back water from Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley in Kentucky to slow the Ohio River’s flow into the Mississippi. “And we’re out there not only trying to manage a situation, but to save lives”. County officials estimated about 425 people were displaced by the flood, but had no estimates on the number of properties damaged or likely costs. “It will be millions”. “We’re going to lose probably 100 to 150 homes”. Numbers were unavailable Thursday from Jefferson County.

Along the banks of the MS in Valley Park, more than 300 families were ordered to evacuate because the water could breach a levee.

And the trouble here continues; rivers are not expected to peak until Thursday, at the earliest, and the flood crest will be making its way down the MS well into next week.

“We have a team of seasoned leaders who are well-versed in responding to state emergencies”, Danner said.

Five foreign soldiers who died in those waters last weekend in their auto were from Egypt, Jordan, Algeria and Malaysia, according to Fort Leonard Wood’s public affairs office said Thursday.

“We’re not over it yet”, Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri warned, after touring some of the flooded areas. The Iowa National Guard has agreed to provide support to Missouri personnel, but hasn’t deployed anyone yet. Tanker trucks brought in water, but customers were urged to conserve.

Record rainfall of 8 or more inches across wide areas of Missouri had pushed the Meramec up 35 feet since Saturday.

Flooding along the Meramac River in Missouri is setting records.

The year ended Thursday with the Mississippi River cresting at Alton some 3 feet short of the National Weather Service’s original prediction, a New Year’s gift to the city.

In some of the worst flooding in history, parts of the greater St. Louis area is underwater.

El Niño conditions in the Pacific have created an unusually wet and warm mess across the nation’s midsection and into the Deep South. The gauge at St. Louis is clawing up toward 42 feet, its third-highest in recorded history. Amtrak officials halted the St. Louis-to-Kansas City train on Thursday, and 5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that was closed at St. Louis halted barge traffic. It wasn’t immediately clear how many homes were in jeopardy.

In the Bayshore subdivision, the swollen Meramec took over backyards and caused sewage backups in some basements, though only a few homes were flooded.

Hundreds of homes and businesses have been swallowed up by the frigid, muddy waters.

“It’s pretty far away”, she said.

In the Pleasant Valley neighborhood, Rick Eckert’s home was about 75 yards from the nearest visible grass.

“It is like a cool Christmas story that went well”, he said.