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The Latest: Meramec River drops below flood stage

The flooded Crescent area of west St. Louis County, Mo., including the Aberdeen Golf Club near Eureka, is seen from the overlook in Bluff View Park on Friday, Jan. 1, 2016. The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several water-logged communities to spend the first day of 2016 assessing damage, cleaning up and figuring out how to bounce back — or in some cases, where to live. (Jennie Crabbe/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER OUT; THE ALTON TELEGRAPH OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT The flooded Crescent area of west St. Louis County, Mo., including the Aberdeen Golf Club near Eureka, is seen from the overlook in Bluff View Park on Friday, Jan. 1, 2016. The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several water-logged communities to spend the first day of 2016 assessing damage, cleaning up and figuring out how to bounce back — or in some cases, where to live. (Jennie Crabbe/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER OUT; THE ALTON TELEGRAPH OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

By Associated Press January 3, 2016 1 min read

The latest developments on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):

8:45 a.m.

Just three days after ascending to record levels and forcing hundreds of people from their homes, the Meramec River in suburban St. Louis is already back below flood stage in two hard-hit towns.

The Mississippi River tributary reached 4 feet above the previous record at some spots on Thursday, causing damage to hundreds of homes and precautionary evacuations of hundreds more.

It fell almost as fast as it rose. The National Weather Service says the river is now well below flood stage in Pacific and Eureka, and just 4 feet above flood stage in Valley Park.

Arnold still has concerns because it is closest to the Mississippi and water from the bigger river continues to back up into the Meramec at that point.