The Mississippi River still is on the rise and will crest slightly higher than originally predicted.
The current forecast from the National Weather Service has the river topping out at 17.9 feet Wednesday (April 1), which is just a tenth-of-a-foot below major flood stage. As of Sunday night (March 29), the river was sitting at 17.55 feet.
The river is expected to immediately start dropping after the Wednesday crest and slowly will drop down to about 17.4 feet by Saturday night.
City crews erected Hesco sand barriers extending from the permanent flood wall more than a week ago, ensuring the swollen river won’t be a major problem — at least for now. The river slowly has been crawling toward the 17.9-foot crest for the past week and was originally predicted to get no higher than 17 feet.
Heavy rain would cause the river to steady and possibly rise again, but that’s not in the forecast. The weather service is calling for clear skies most of the week, and chances of rain below 50 percent Thursday and Friday.
Photo by Joy Mack
Hesco flood-barriers are shown Sunday along Burlington's riverfront.