Record broken from flood of ’93 as Mississippi is still rising at Davenport

The all-time worst flood to hit Davenport is no longer the flood of 1993. The Mississippi pushed past the record level Thursday and it’s still slowly rising, approaching eight feet over flood stage. Meteorologist Rich Kinney, at the National Weather Service in Davenport, says the river has surpassed the record of 22-point-63 feet set in July 26 years ago.

“Last weekend, there were significant amounts of rainfall, two or three-plus inches across the area,” Kinney says, “and that really fueled this latest rise that we’re seeing.” Governor Kim Reynolds is scheduled to survey the damage in downtown Davenport this (Friday) morning. The crest is expected soon and the river may fall about a foot over the weekend, but Kinney is worried about the potential for more rain Sunday through Wednesday.

“That, if it occurs, would lead to renewed rises and we’re already at a very high level,” Kinney says. “We’re certainly very concerned about that and even after the crest, folks cannot let their guard down because the river will start to fall a little bit but we could be back on the rise again next week.” He notes, the Quad Cities weather service is a “24-7 operation.”

Kinney says the employees are very busy providing the “latest and best” information to many cities, counties, emergency managers, the news media, and others. Its forecast area includes the Upper Mississippi River between Dubuque County, Iowa and Hancock County, Illinois.