The latest developments on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):
1:15 p.m.
The high water causing problems in Illinois and Missouri is heading south toward Memphis, Tennessee.
The Mississippi River is expected to crest in Memphis at 42 feet on Jan. 9. Although no major flooding was expected in the city, officials were moving to protect roads and a local airport.
Meanwhile, other parts of Tennessee and western Kentucky face flood threats as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Tennessee Valley Authority work to control water levels.
The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for the Cumberland River at Dover, Tennessee, through Monday evening.
And minor flooding along the Ohio River was affecting the Kentucky cities of Owensboro and Paducah. The river isn’t expected to crest until Thursday. Moderate flooding was reported along the Green River near Paradise, Kentucky.
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11:40 a.m.
Two days after the surging Meramec River forced evacuation of nearly 400 homes in the St. Louis suburb of Valley Park, residents are returning.
The city announced Friday that the evacuation order was lifted and that those coming back should use one of two checkpoints.
The Meramec’s water level climbed to an all-time high in Valley Park, but has dropped about 6 feet since then. Damage was limited but the water reached so close to the top of the levee that city officials ordered the evacuation as a precaution.
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11 a.m.
The search has resumed for two men who have been missing in southwest Missouri since last weekend.
In Vernon County, searchers are combing a flooded conservation area for a missing duck hunter.
Sgt. John H. Lueckenhoff, of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, says search crews have used patrol boats equipped with sonar equipment in the search at the Four Rivers Conservation Area. The hunter’s boat, dog and waders were found after he disappeared Sunday. The man’s name has not been released.
Polk County emergency management director Rick Davis says about 75 to 100 people were searching Friday for another man whose vehicle was found Sunday washed up against a guardrail on a county bridge. The man’s name also has not been released.
The two men are among 14 people who have died in Missouri since the flooding began.
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10:50 a.m.
Interstate 44 is now open again in Missouri.
A 24-mile stretch of the interstate southwest of St. Louis closed Wednesday due to flooding along the Meramec River. The Missouri Department of Transportation reopened the east-west interstate late Friday morning.
Hours earlier, southbound lanes of Interstate 55 reopened south of St. Louis. The I-55 northbound lanes had opened Thursday night. That road also was closed due to record flooding along the Meramec, a Mississippi River tributary.
MoDOT officials say all interstates in Missouri are now open.
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10:35 a.m.
An all-time high-water mark is now expected in southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau, with the rising water damaging homes, threatening a power substation, and forcing a neighboring small town to become an island, at least for a few days.
The National Weather Service now expects the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau to top out on Sunday at a foot-and-a-half above the 1993 record. The community of nearly 40,000 residents is mostly protected by a flood wall, but a couple of dozen homes have been damaged.
Meanwhile, floodwaters were surrounding the nearby town of Allenville. The 30 or some homes were mostly dry, but access was cut off. Cape Girardeau County emergency management director Richard Knaup says 40 of the 46 residents decided to stay, using boats to get around.
Sandbags were placed on top of a levee surrounding an Ameren Corp. substation near Cape Girardeau in hopes of keeping it dry.
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10:15 a.m.
Sandbagging efforts are underway in the tiny town of St. Mary, Missouri, after the breach of a Mississippi River levee.
The small levee in Ste. Genevieve County, about 40 miles south of St. Louis, broke Thursday night. The river is expected to crest in that area Saturday about 3 ½ feet below the record set in 1993.
The levee break mostly impacts agricultural land, but water was approaching St. Mary, a town of about 360 residents. Neighbors and volunteers were placing sandbags around endangered homes. There were no immediate reports of damage.
Ste. Genevieve, a historic French village dating to the 18th century, remained dry thanks to a levee.
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9:35 a.m.
The search has resumed at a north Oklahoma lake for a country music singer from Arkansas who disappeared while hunting nearly a week ago.
The Kay County Sheriff’s Office says the Oklahoma Highway Patrol resumed the search at daybreak Friday for 29-year-old Craig Strickland on Kaw Lake. An OHP spokesman did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
The OHP has been using search dogs, boats with sonar and drag lines and a helicopter in the search.
Strickland is the lead singer of the Arkansas-based country-rock band Backroad Anthem. He disappeared during severe storms Sunday while on a duck hunting trip with friend Chase Morland.
The pair’s capsized boat was found Sunday, along with Strickland’s dog, which was alive. Morland’s body was recovered from the lake Monday.
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9:15 a.m.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is spending the day touring flood-damaged areas of the state.
His six stops in downstate Illinois on Friday include the Mississippi River communities of Alton and Grafton.
Rauner has declared 12 Illinois counties disaster areas. The declaration helps makes state resources available for communities to recover from flooding.
Meanwhile in central Illinois, authorities continued their search for two missing teenagers last seen Monday.
Divers have concentrated their search in flooded areas where one of the teen’s cellphone was tracked. The (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/1mu7Wcc ) reports the pickup they were last seen in was pulled from floodwaters late Thursday.
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8:30 a.m.
Members of the Missouri National Guard are providing security and filling sandbags during the flood, but they’re also purifying water.
A water plant failed in the St. Louis-area town of High Ridge this week after flooding from the Meramec River swamped the plant. The Missouri National Guard brought in two systems that can produce 30,000 gallons of purified water per day.
But Steve Danner, the adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard, says more help is needed, so he asked the Iowa National Guard to also assist with the water purification effort. The Iowa guard is expected to bring in a third purification system.
It isn’t clear when the High Ridge water plant will be operating again.
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8 a.m.
Interstate 55 is now moving again in both directions south of St. Louis.
Record flooding along the Meramec River forced closure of a 3-mile stretch of the busy north-south interstate highway on Wednesday. The water is now receding and the Missouri Department of transportation opened northbound lanes Thursday, and southbound lanes just before 8 a.m. Friday.
MoDOT spokeswoman Shaunda White says the stretch of roadway typically sees 76,000 vehicles daily.
Water also has receded from the roadway of a 24-mile stretch of Interstate 44 that has been closed since Wednesday, but White says crews must clear debris from the pavement and inspect it to make sure it is safe for travel. She says I-44 may also reopen Friday.
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7:40 a.m.
The northbound lanes of Interstate 55 are open again south of St. Louis, and southbound lanes are expected to open later Friday.
Record flooding along the Meramec River forced closure of all lanes of the busy north-south interstate highway on Wednesday, snarling traffic in a busy area of St. Louis and Jefferson counties.
But the river has crested and the Missouri Department of Transportation opened the northbound lanes Thursday night.
MoDOT spokeswoman Shaunda White says water also has receded from the roadway of a 24-mile stretch of Interstate 44 that has been closed since Wednesday, but crews must clear debris from the pavement and inspect it to make sure it is safe for travel. She says I-44 may also reopen Friday.
Highway 109, another busy St. Louis County roadway, reopened around 6 a.m. Friday.