Heavy Rain Threatens Quad Cities
Heavy rain upstream threatened to push the swollen Mississippi River even higher than Sunday’s disastrous level in this city unprotected by levees.
At more than 7 feet above flood stage, the mighty river had inundated low-lying farms and homes in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, and it flowed unimpeded into downtown Davenport.
But in historic Hannibal, Mo., the holiday weekend Tom Sawyer Days celebration went on as usual, with a new levee standing between the festivities and the river that Mark Twain celebrated in his books.
The river was at 22 feet Sunday, said National Weather Service forecaster Mike Bell in Moline, Ill. At one point, 22 feet was expected to be the crest level. But crest projections were being revised almost hourly because of rainfall across the Upper Midwest.
The record at Davenport is 22.5 feet, set in 1965.
Many fireworks displays were canceled in the Quad Cities area.
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