WELDON SPRING, Mo. — Torrential rainfall led to catastrophic flooding in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota this week. Surging waters from heavy rain pushed a dam along the Blue Earth River in Minnesota to fail, sending even more water downstream.
Downstream of South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa sits St. Louis at the point where the Mississippi and Missouri meet.
"We're going to see that water," National Weather Service of St. Louis Senior Service Hydrologist Mark Fuchs explained. "When it first falls all at once, it creates flash flooding and as we saw across parts of northwest Iowa, southern Minnesota, record flooding."
All of that water is flowing into two river basins, the Missouri and the Mississippi. "Those two converge just north of St. Louis so you get all excited, 'Like, wow, we're going to get a flood here,'" Fuchs said with a smile. "Well, not so much."
Not so much, but there will still be some flooding.
"We're going to see flooding along the Mississippi," Fuchs forecasts, "in all likelihood. It will be minor to maybe even moderate when it's all said and done with."
There is rain in the forecast, potentially heavy rain, that could change Fuchs' forecast. He said any additional rainfall the area gets due to storms will "add to what initial predictions of the crest could be."
All of the above relates to the Mississippi. The Missouri is looking full, but Fuchs said it's fine: "We're not expecting any flooding on the Missouri. At least not yet, there could be perhaps some minor flooding that could develop, but that would be the worst of it."
River forecasts are always subject to change due to heavy rain.