National Weather Service meteorologists say the flood-swollen Mississippi River is going down, but it will be some time before things dry out. The waterway has crested from Iowa through southern Missouri and Illinois but remains above flood stage at many spots. Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland are under water and hundreds of roads remain closed. The river is still 10 feet above technical flood stage at Cape Girardeau, Missouri and Grafton, Illinois.
Cape Girardeau is protected by a flood wall; Grafton isn’t, and many businesses there remain closed. The NWS says it could be late June before the Mississippi is fully back in its banks. Forecasters say the region will see more rain this week, but they don’t expect it to worsen flooding.
