If April showers bring May flowers, then March thunderstorms bring March flooding.
Heavy rain over the weekend has sent most area streams and rivers out of their banks.
At The Missourian office in Downtown Washington, a total of 1.5 inches of precipitation was measured for the weekend, a period which ended at 8 a.m. Monday.
Flooding
In the area, the river receiving much of the water was the Meramec. At Pacific, the river is expected to crest around 18.5 feet Wednesday evening, 3.5 feet over flood stage.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the river was at 12.86 feet, just under the 13-foot action stage. Flood stage in Pacific is 15 feet.
At 18.5 feet, several roads are flooded and closed, including Highway AK near the Highway O intersection, parts of Highway N, Opeechee Beach Road and Hunters Ford Road.
Near Sullivan, the river crested at 19.75 feet Monday night at 11:30 p.m. That was just below the 20-foot moderate flood stage and 8.75 feet above the 11-foot flood stage.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the river had dropped to 17 feet. It is expected to drop below flood stage Wednesday.
The Bourbeuse River at Union is expected to crest over flood stage Wednesday at 16.4 feet, considered to be minor flooding.
Flood stage in Union is 15 feet.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the river was just under action stage at 12.96 feet.
The Bourbeuse crested at 18.24 feet at High Gate Monday. Action stage there is 17 feet.
The Meramec River also is receiving a large amount of water from the Big River near Eureka. That stream was expected to crest Tuesday near 23.1 feet at Byrnesville, over three feet above moderate flood stage.
The Missouri River in Washington wasn’t expected to have a significant rise. The river was measured at 8.43 feet at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday with a predicted crest of 8.9 feet Wednesday morning.
Flood stage in Washington is 20 feet.
Rainfall Update
Franklin County received at least 0.75 of an inch of precipitation during the weekend with areas between Washington and New Haven and the extreme northwest and northeast parts being on the dry side.
The southern edge of the county received at least 2 inches with over 2.5 inches being measured northwest of Sullivan.
In Washington, the monthly total now is 3.67 inches. At the same time in March in 2012, monthly precipitation was 3.23 inches.
Yearly precipitation for 2013 now is 10.59 inches. At this point last year, the yearly total was 9.92 inches.
