Most of Central Missouri saw 2-4 inches of rain by Wednesday evening, leading to forecasts of rivers rising once again.
Runoff into the Lake of the Ozarks prompted Ameren Missouri on Wednesday evening to increase the water flowing through Bagnell Dam floodgates from 50,000 cubic feet per second to 57,000.
The release was expected to raise the Osage River just below the dam by two feet. The river at St. Thomas was measured at almost 20 feet and rising at 6:45 p.m.
The Army Corps of Engineers was expected to shut off water flowing into the lake from Truman Dam until at least Thursday morning.
(Updates on Bagnell Dam outflow are available by calling 573-365-9205. Hourly discharge rates also are available online at apps.ameren.com/HydroElectric/Reports/Osage.)
The Missouri River in Jefferson City, measured at 21.84 feet at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, was already exceeding the predicted rate of rise, which had forecast the river to reach its flood stage of 23 feet Thursday night and then start to fall.
At Chamois, the river was expected to peak at 20.6 feet on Friday morning, and 28 feet on Friday afternoon at Gasconade.
The Moreau River near Jefferson City, where flood stage is 17 feet, was measured at 17.22 feet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
(See links below for detailed hydrological forecasts for area streams.)
Flash flooding from the heavy rains closed several roads in Cole County along the Moreau including: Meadows Ford Road, Murphy Ford Road, Lower Bottom Road, Vaughn Ford Road, Campbell Road, Payne Road and North Branch Road.
MoDOT officials said Missouri 94 was down to one lane in two locations in Callaway County - east of County Road 458 and over Wainscot Creek, west of County Road 4010. (See links below for state road closings.)
The long-range forecast shows that by Friday night the rain moves out of the area with little or no rain chances in the forecast for next week. (See links below for forecast and radar.)
Meanwhile, cleanup got underway Wednesday in portions of southwestern Missouri after inches of rain in some areas swelled waterways and lakes, forcing some campers to scramble for higher ground and sheriff's deputies to rescue people from threatened property.
Some stretches of Missouri's Ozarks got 6 inches of rain since Tuesday, at times within a matter of three hours, meteorologist Andy Boxell said from the National Weather Service's office in Springfield.
Around 3,300-resident Cassville in southwest Missouri's Barry County, restoration efforts were afoot Wednesday, a day after more than a dozen homes and businesses were evacuated and at least eight people were rescued, in some cases by boat. Flooding there toppled fencing at a ball field near downtown.
In the resort town of Branson, a higher-than-normal Lake Taneycomo swamped some campsites at a downtown park.
Updates:
Mid-Missouri radar and forecast
MoDOT traveler information map (State road closings)
National Weather Service, St. Louis ("Rivers and Lakes" for hydrologic forecasts)
National Weather Service, Springfield ("Rivers and Lakes" for hydrologic forecasts)
National Weather Service, Kansas City ("Rivers and Lakes" for hydrologic forecasts)