Bedraggled communities contend with ‘more water’
Mississippi River misery could last into June
The unyielding rain and flooding that overwhelmed parts of the Midwest are taking their toll on the Missouri town of Clarksville.
Residents of the Mississippi River community engulfed in water braced for storms that could sweep through the region through Thursday. Flood watches were issued across parts of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.
“The severe thunderstorms will be capable of producing large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes,” the National Weather Service warned. Heavy rain could produce flash and river flooding, the weather service said.
Meteorologist Gregg Gallina said the spring rains were coming on the heels of a “fairly historic” winter that deepened a snowpack and overwhelmed rivers with its melt.
Davenport, Iowa, hit hard by floods as the Mississippi River crested at a record-high 22.7 feet last week, faces the possibility of flash flooding. Cities such as Omaha, Nebraska; Madison, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; and Chicago and Peoria, Illinois, also could feel the impact of the latest round of storms.
Justin Sheppard, a commissioner in Pike County, Missouri, said floodwaters driven by weeks of rain chased some Clarksville-area families from their homes.
“We have to worry about rain where we are, plus rain and snowmelt north of us,” Sheppard said. “It’s very hard on our communities.”
Sheppard said flooding has become more prevalent in the past decade or so, slamming through towns along the river once a year or more. Years ago, Clarksville was a historic, energetic town that would fill with tourists driving up Route 79 from St. Louis to dabble in antique and woodworking shops.
Almost all those shops have closed, Sheppard said.
“People are resilient, but the constant flooding has driven people away,” he said. “It doesn’t take much to shut 79 down, and people can’t get here.”
Thirty miles to the south, the town of Winfield filled sandbags to protect the Pin Oak levee. Mayor Ryan Ruckel was upbeat.
“River levels did not get high enough to overtop the Pin Oak,” he said. “Our only concern at this moment is that it holds up and continues to stand strong.”
AccuWeather warned that severe weather risk will focus mainly on the south-central states for several days this week, while primarily rain plagues areas farther to the north, from South Dakota and Nebraska to Michigan.
The rain “can lead to stream and river flooding where none has occurred thus far this spring or cause a new surge of flooding where it has already occurred,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski warned.
Flooding along the Mississippi River could persist into June as rains saturate the Midwest, forecasters say.
In Missouri, almost a dozen levees have been breached or threatened in recent days. Sheppard noted the Mississippi River was receding Tuesday but was forecast to rise again next week.
“Two towns in the county, plus some small villages and farmland, are already flooded,” he said. “We are hoping the rain holds off for now, but we know more water is coming.”