By DONNA FARLEY
Staff Writer
While the Black River crested Monday, officials are warning residents a second round of flooding could pose more problems before the end of the week for already damaged levees.
The river could start to rise again Tuesday with the addition of a record outflow from Clearwater Lake, Poplar Bluff city manager Mark Massingham said Monday night. Massingham spoke after the city council voted to declare a state of emergency.
The Black River was at 20.69 feet as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, more than four feet above flood stage. It crested Monday at 21.96 feet, the second highest level on record.
Clearwater Lake is expected to see a maximum combined output of 5,000 cubic feet per second from the primary and secondary spillways. This would be about 25 percent higher than the previous record outflow.
It will take about 24 hours for the new water to begin reaching Poplar Bluff, and 48 hours for the full impact to be felt, Massingham said.
He urged people who have evacuated from homes in south Poplar Bluff to be cautious about returning to properties that could flood again in the coming days. More rainfall is also expected Wednesday.
The Poplar Bluff area could see 1-2 inches of additional rain Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service at Paducah, Ky. The heaviest rainfall is expected to be to the north, with 2-3 inches for areas from Greenville, Mo., to Marion, Ill.
The heaviest rainfall is expected to be in the overnight hours Wednesday, current predictions say.
Butler County Presiding Commissioner Vince Lampe and other county personnel were monitoring levees this morning and have been throughout the weekend.
A levee near County Road 605 has a breach that extends approximately 30 feet, Lampe said. The levee is in an area the county describes as "no man's land" because it is not inside any maintained drainage district.
Because it affects county roads, the county can make repairs and will do so as quickly as possible, Lampe said. Water levels have been too high to reach the damaged section, he said.
County officials are also monitoring levees near county roads 607 and 611. More damage may have occurred here, but water levels were too high Monday to know for sure, Lampe said.
This area also falls outside of a maintained drainage district. It was damaged in August 2016 flooding, with a break large enough to fit more than three SUVs side by side. The county also repaired this breach.
A District 7 levee near County Road 202 sustained damage Friday, he said.
The Black River set a record crest of 22.15 feet in 2008.
Clearwater Dam helps prevent additional flooding by holding back rainfall from the north until lake flood storage capacity reaches 100 percent. The lake was at 97 percent by early Monday and began topping the overflow spillway at 1 p.m. Monday.
The dam was able to reduce the river stage at Poplar Bluff by at least 5 feet between April 29 and May 1, said Clearwater project manager Randy Devenport, based on the amount of water flowing into the lake.