After a weekend of heavy rain, more showers and storms were moving across southeastern Iowa Tuesday.
Runoff from the storms theatens to push the swollen Mississippi River near record flood levels. Floodwaters on the river are expected to crest this week in Iowa. In the Quad Cities, the river will come near the peak of 22.6 feet reached in 1993.
“The current forecast at Rock Island Lock and Dam No. 15 is currently 22.2 feet, coming up just a little bit short but not by much,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike McClure.
In the meantime, many smaller waterways that feed into the Mississippi are primed for flash flooding over the next 24 hours. “The ground is very well saturated in some locations and so any of this heavy rain will just go into runoff and bring that risk for flash flooding.”
The NWS has issued a flash flood watch for several counties in southeast Iowa which will remain in effect through Wednesday afternoon. According to McClure, another system could bring a round of rain Thursday, but moving toward the end of the week “we’ll look to dry out.”
