Heavy rainfall across Missouri has caused flash flooding and road closures in Boone County and could cause flooding along the Mississippi.
National Weather Service Hydrologist Mark Fuchs says there is a good chance of major flooding across the upper-part of the Mississippi River near Quincy, Ill. and Hannibal, Mo. But what happens downstream is dependent on the levels of rainfall in Missouri. Fuchs says models are showing rainfall near the Missouri River could be anywhere from an inch to three inches over the next 24 hours.
"Other models are generating between two to three inches, which will give substantial rises along the Missouri and would, in turn, impact the Mississippi River at Grafton, Mel Price, St. Louis and points downstream,” Fuchs said.
Gale Blomenkamp of the Boone County Fire Protection District says people need to be cautious and warns that if there’s water over a road, people should turn around and find another route.
“If that water moved through there, it could have washed that road away, and so you just never know if there’s even a road surface underneath the water,” Blomenkamp said. “People just need to not drive through water.”
Blomenkamp says drivers should be cautious throughout the weekend because it could take until Sunday or Monday for all of the water to clear off Boone County roads.
The full list of road closures can be found on Boone County Emergency Management’s website here.