Flood in Scott County, Missouri

Major flooding continued from April on the Mississippi River. At the Thebes, Illinois river gage, the flood crest of 45.52 feet on the night of May 2 was the second highest crest on record. The record crest was 45.91 feet in May of 1995. The activation of the New Madrid Floodway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spared the county from an even higher crest. With the detonation of the Mississippi River levee at Birds Point, Missouri, the river dropped suddenly. A combination of Mississippi River backwater and headwaters from the Whitewater River caused flooding as far inland as Chaffee. In Chaffee, a nursing home was sandbagged after its parking lot flooded. Many homes and other structures along Highway 77 were surrounded by water. At least one street was closed in Chaffee. In an area around Sikeston, sixty homes were threatened by backwater from the St. Johns Bayou. Many school districts were closed. U.S. Highway 62 was closed east of Interstate 55. A couple dozen homes were threatened in Commerce, causing a partial evacuation of the town. The breach of a private agricultural levee flooded thousands of acres of farmland and flooded even more of Commerce. A large portion of Route EE was closed.

Heavy rainfall in March set the stage for major flooding when record-setting rains fell in April and May. At Cape Girardeau, 31.85 inches of rain fell between March and May. This set the record for the wettest meteorological spring (March through May) and was 68 percent of the normal rainfall for the entire year. The result of all this rain was rapid and dramatic rises on rivers. Record flood crests occurred on some rivers, inundating numerous homes and businesses. There were major impacts to transportation both on land and water. There were numerous closed roads across the region, leading to often lengthy detours. Because of the high water, there were numerous day and nighttime restrictions to barge traffic. Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland were flooded. Crops were late getting planted.