feet, and it is continuing to diminish here, and that is very good news for the the people trying to get around, and this is a major secondary artery. i-44 opened yesterday, and all of the water is from the meramec flood that occurred last week. the record is up to 24 feet, and 28 feet higher than flood stage, and four feet higher than it has ever been. and all of the water is going toward the mississippi river, and it is already swollen, and that is why it is taking so long to get out of here. once it gets to mississippi, it is going to add to the floodwaters, there and the river has been cresting up and down the illinois state line, and in fact, places like ste. genevi e genevieve, it is expected to be two feet short of the record in 1993. as it passes chester, illinois, it is three feet below the record in 1993. but when it gets to cape girardeau, they are bracing for
good to be with you for weekends with alex witt. alex is off and i m francis rivera. the national guard has been activated in illinois and hundreds of residents were told to evacuate as the floodwaters are threatening the le e vees up and down the mississippi river. charles hadlock is in valley park, missouri, and it is looking like things are improving with that water recede ing there? yes, it is down a few inches from last hour, and this is flooding interstate 1411 and interstate 44. sit down significant of when the flood occurred earlier in the week when the water was lapping at the girders of the overpass of i-44, and the interstate itself was closed for about 24-48 hours, and it reopened yesterday, as did i-55 which is
year s day. interstate 55, some of the lanes have reopened. interstate 44 remains closed for about 24 miles but they are making progress in clearing some of the road. they have to scrape away the mud off of the interstate to open that back up to the holiday travelers trying to return back home. further downstream, the town of st. genevieve are also bracing for the flood but they re expected to fall two feet short of the record in 1993. so they re breathing a sigh of relief. the levees should hold. there is stress on them with all this massive amount of water moving past but they are expected to hold. the danger here in st. louis, in the st. louis area has passed. back to you, richard. charles, what does this mean for business next week, the first week of business there in st. louis? are they even talking about that at this moment? not right now. they re looking downstream,
standing in valley park, missouri, along the meramec river, which is a little ways to the north. this is highway 141 where we re standing. looks more like a boat launch, but the river is finally crested. did that yesterday. and now the water s going down. we ve come down more than six feet. yesterday the water was about a foot below that green sign right there. so the water definitely coming down little by little. still a long way to go. interstate 44 though right there behind me it is back open after being closed for several days because water was on top of the interstate. so that s good news for travelers. but you know what, there s going to be a lot of cleanup ahead. the waters recede, look at all of this mud, this silt that s coming from the meramec river. all of this is going to be left behind. and it s going to be pretty thick once this starts to funnel down the mississippi. so they re going to be cleaning up this. there s sewage in that water. and there s also trash in the water
interstate 44 and believe it or not the water has gone down considerably actually. it s gone down almost six feet if you can believe it. but we still have a long, long way to go. it is going to be at least until tomorrow or sunday before things start to look a little closer to normal where we are. right around st. louis though, the mississippi river there is cresting now. will most likely do that throughout the entire day so the water is still very, very high. a lot of places still vulnerable. you are talking about the levee concerns. they evacuated people in that area a couple of days ago and the latest update says the levees are holding fine. but it is still going to be a fluid situation until those waters can start to recede. so the weekend is going to be a very crucial time to watch all of that as the waters continue to go down. but fred it is going to be a long road ahead for people here.