Major St. Louis highways reopen after record floods

But in states farther south, record crest predictions raise fear death toll will go higher

ST. LOUIS— The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several water-logged communities to spend the first day of 2016 assessing damage, cleaning up and figuring out how to bounce back — or in some cases, where to live.

Farther south, things were getting worse: Record and near-record crest predictions for the Mississippi River as well as levee breaks threatened homes in rural southern Missouri and Illinois.

Two more levees succumbed Friday, bringing to at least 11 the number of levee failures.

The flood, fuelled by more than 25 centimetres of rain over a three-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for 22 deaths. Searchers were still looking for five missing people — two teenagers in Illinois, two men in Missouri and a country music singer in Oklahoma.

On Friday, water from the Mississippi, Meramec and Missouri rivers was largely receding in the St. Louis area. Two major highways — Inter- state 44 and Interstate 55 — reopened south of St. Louis, meaning commuters who return to work next week won’t have hours-long detours. Some evacuees were allowed to return home.

But in the far southwestern tip of Illinois, the 500 or so people living behind the Len Small levee, which protects the hamlets of Olive Branch, Hodges Park, Unity and rural homes, were urged to move to higher ground after the Mississippi began pouring over the levee.

Alexander County Board chairman Chalen Tatum said sandbagging efforts were cut off because it was simply too dangerous for the volunteers. Far more water is to come before the Sunday crest. “It’s going to get ugly,” he said. In St. Mary, Mo, a town of about 360 residents 80 kilometres south of St. Louis, neighbours and volunteers placed sandbags around homes after a small agricultural levee broke.

The main culprit in the St. Louis region was the Meramac River, a relatively small Mississippi tributary.

It had bombarded communities in the far southwestern reaches of the St. Louis suburbs during the week. By Friday, it was relenting, but not before some points topped the 1993 record by more than a metre.