posted on Apr, 27 2013 @ 07:03 PM
Okay, so if you have been following this thread you will recall that at one point not a few months back the river reached a stage below 6'. As I
mentioned later in the thread I said I noticed that every other year there seems to be higher waters (often with flooding) with the following year
having lower waters (such as last year where it reached record lows).
Well the time has come to have the flooding again. At this point the waters at Cape Girardeau are 41.85 feet and at Thebes 40.84 feet. While this
might not seem to be troubles it is as troubling as the low waters in terms of commerce. For instance at this point the rail system along the
Mississippi river is now closed down due to water being over the tracks (at some point 4-5 feet over the tracks). The barges are able to move more
freely in distance away from each other though in some spots it seems the tops of them are getting closer to the bottoms of the bridges along the
river.
Here are a few photos as well as a link at the end to all the photos from recently at 40+ feet, back when it was at 14 feet, and back when the river
was at its all time low, so that you can see the difference in all of them and you can also look back through the thread to see them and have each
spot named as well.
In this very first photo you can see the front of my car and a view across the river. If you recall there was a sandbar that was very visible on the
East side of the river (the Illinois side). When the river was at its lowest the bar reached almost all the way across the river and barges had to go
through on at a time. At this point there is no visible sandbar. The following photos were taken from Cape Rock park area.
In this photo you can see exactly where the barges were waiting for one another in the first posts of this thread.
The railroad tracks are about 4-5 feet below the water at this point as well as the rocks which I stood on to take photos in the past.
For obvious reasons the roadway is closed.
Next I take you to the boat ramp in Cape Girardeau, which if you recall at the lowest I was able to stand in about the middle of where the river
should be. Okay, I really cannot take you there, but I will get you as close as I can.
In honesty I really cannot get close at all. The area is pretty flooded.
Here is a bridge that is near the ramp that is under water. This is also a creek that flows into the river. As you can see you cannot distinguish
between the river and the creek.
Continued....