Forecasters warn historic flooding could strike Ark.

In southern Mo., breaches in levees force evacuations

A spectator looked down a submerged portion of Water Street on Friday as the Meramec River overflowed in Fenton, Mo., outside St. Louis. The river crested Saturday at Valley Park, Mo. (Peter newcomb/Reuters)

LITTLE ROCK - High water pouring down the White River could cause historic flooding in cities along its path in eastern Arkansas, forecasters warned yesterday.

The river, one of many out of its banks across wide areas of the Midwest, could top levels recorded in a devastating flood 25 years ago, National Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson said.

"There will be water going into areas where people have not seen it before, and may not be expecting to see high water," Robinson said.

Across Arkansas, some rivers were hitting their highest levels in 90-odd years. The Arkansas River crested in Little Rock and points upstream at 22 feet, about a foot below flood stage in the capital city.

A tributary of the White River, the Black River, ruptured a levee in two places Saturday near Pocahontas, said Renee Preslar, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. That stream has been bloated by water pouring downstream from hard-hit southeastern Missouri.

Preslar said that the levee breaks allowed flooding in outlying areas but that she did not have details on what might have been damaged.

The Army Corps of Engineers worked through the night to plug the breaks with sandbags, and that work appeared to be holding yesterday afternoon, Preslar said. "Right now, it's kind of a wait-and-see game," she said.

Arkansas emergency management officials have already estimated damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure at $2 million. Forecasts show it probably will be the middle of this week before rivers statewide see significant drops.

Rising water had blocked the only road into the hamlet of Georgetown, Ark., population 126, which could maroon residents for as long as a week.

Governor Mike Beebe of Arkansas has declared 35 counties disaster areas.

Last week's torrential rainstorms also caused flooding in parts of Ohio and southern Illinois and in wide areas of Missouri.

At least 17 deaths have been linked to flooding, wet roads, and other weather effects over the past week, and one person is missing in Arkansas.

Thousands of Missouri residents have fled to Red Cross shelters or to the homes of friends or relatives.

In southern Missouri, water poured through several breaches in levees and led authorities to evacuate towns west of Cape Girardeau. At least 200 homes and 13 businesses had been evacuated in Cape Girardeau County, said emergency management director Dick Knaup. Some 70 Missouri counties reported flooding last week.

West of St. Louis, the Meramec River crested Saturday at Valley Park, Mo., at 37.8 feet, well above the flood stage of 16 feet but still below the record of 39.7 feet, the weather service said. That was several feet below the top of a levee at Valley Park that was completed in 2005.

Much of the flooding in Illinois was in sparsely populated areas, but several dozen people were evacuated from their homes in Murphysboro on Saturday, said Patti Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.