We went to Hannibal, Missouri last weekend. It is only about 1 hour and 45 minutes from our home in St. Louis. We left on Friday evening, stayed for two nights and drove home on Sunday morning. We got back home just in time to attend 12:00 p.m. Mass at our home parish. You could see from these photos that the Mississippi River was swollen with rising water. The above sign reads, "Parking for Parks Marina Staff Only". I am sure the Staff would not have to worry about someone taking these parking spots for awhile! How about the sign below, "No Parking Any Time. Illegal Parking Vehicles will be towed at Owner's Expense"? Should it be "Vehicles will be floated down the River at Owner's Expense"?
Here you could see that the water covered most of the road leading to the boarding area for the Mark Twain Mississippi Riverboat. We were able to walk to the Nipper Park (photo below) and I saw a big log washed up the landing. I guess there is a lot of debris in the water and the current is so swift that we don't normally see these large objects floating in the water. The town of Hannibal practiced "Better safe than sorry" by putting in place its levee door (bottom photo), just in case the water quickly got higher than expected. Back in 1993, the river crested near the 31.8-foot high-water mark — the second so-called 500-year flood in 15 years. Parts of the town were under several feet of water, but the historic downtown was protected by a levee built to withstand a crest of 34 feet. It is nice to live near the water but I am not sure about the constant threat of flooding.
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