ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Joseph Fiorilli is ready to go home, even though most everything he left behind when the flooded Meramec River inundated his eastern Missouri home will be a soggy, stinky mess.
Fiorilli, his wife and their two dogs were forced to quickly leave when heavy rains pushed the river to near-record levels, some 18 feet above flood stage in Pacific, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of St. Louis.
Although water levels have dropped, Fiorilli's home in a four-unit apartment remains underwater. He expects to find his furniture, television, laptop and most everything else they left behind ruined.
"Fortunately these are all replaceable things," the 50-year-old Fiorilli said. Still, he added, "it's really scary."
Thunderstorms that started last weekend caused flooding and pushed many rivers to records levels in Missouri, Arkansas and neighboring states. Five deaths have been blamed on the floods in Missouri, while hundreds of people have been forced from their homes across the region.
River levels are mostly falling except for a few spots on the Missouri River and Mississippi River, though damage along those big rivers will be minimized by flood buyouts over the past two decades. But people living along smaller rivers -- like the Meramec in suburban St. Louis and the Black River, which cuts through southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas -- are dreading what they'll find.
Authorities are urging caution: Damaged buildings can pose hazards, such as electrical shock, while wildlife displaced by flooding -- such as snakes, turtles and deer -- could be lurking in and around homes. Health officials said floodwater contains raw sewage, chemicals and other potentially toxic items. They said children and pets should be kept out of the water.
In Valley Park, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Pacific, the Meramec has dropped sharply since cresting just short of an all-time record. The lower part of the town was evacuated Monday amid worries a nearby levee wouldn't hold.
The soaked levee did hold, but city leaders aren't ready to declare victory just yet. Mayor Michael Pennise said in a letter to residents and business owners Thursday that it's too early to return.
"The city is erring on the side of caution for the safety of the community, and city employees and will not allow re-entry to the protected area today," Pennise wrote.
In northeast Arkansas, about 50 homes in Randolph County were destroyed or badly damaged when the Black River reached record levels. More than 100 National Guard members were dispatched after at least nine breaches were reported along a levee near the town of Pocahontas, where some residents were evacuated.
A mudslide in southwest Illinois badly damaged a home and closed a road in Caseyville, near St. Louis. And in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Southeast Missouri State University football players joined other volunteers filling sandbags to protect homes outside the floodwall that guards most of the city.
Travel was restricted on and near parts of the Mississippi River, including a 14.5-mile stretch of the river at St. Louis that was closed to barges and other vessels because of high, swift current.
In Pacific, Fiorilli was biding his time in his GMC Yukon because a local shelter for flood victims wasn't accepting dogs. "Where they won't go, I won't go," he said.
Fiorilli and his wife moved to Missouri last year to be closer to their grandchildren. He noted he's been through natural disasters before, including a Pennsylvania blizzard in the 1990s and Hurricane Charley in Florida in 2004.
But this is the worst, Fiorilli said.
"Nothing compares to the stress and fear that a flood gives you," he said.
EARLIER COVERAGE
ST. LOUIS (AP) - River levels are falling Thursday after record and near-record flooding in parts of the Midwest, but the crisis is far from over. Officials have not said when hundreds of residents displaced from flooded properties in suburban St. Louis will be allowed to return home, but they have warned of the dangers that await them.
Downpours that dumped up to a foot of rain in parts of the nation's midsection last weekend led to the sudden surge of water. Flooding is blamed in at least nine deaths, and an 18-month-old Arkansas girl swept away by floodwater is missing and presumed dead. Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois, and the Wabash River in Indiana was flooding at Terre Haute, Vincennes and other places.
The Midwest wasn't alone. Up to 8 inches of rain fell Wednesday in parts of Louisiana, leading to flash flooding. A school bus trying to drive on a flooded road got stuck and nearly tipped over near the town of Iowa, Louisiana. Students and the driver were rescued and no one was hurt.
A steady rain that began Wednesday continued Thursday over middle America. The National Weather Service said the additional water - up to 4 inches of rain in some areas - shouldn't cause rivers to rise higher, but will prolong the flood.
Major flooding is occurring on the Missouri River in eastern Missouri and the Mississippi River in Missouri and Illinois. A Mississippi River bridge at Chester, Illinois, will close at noon Thursday because flood gates on the Missouri side will block the bridge entrance.
City officials in tiny West Alton, Missouri, about 20 miles north of St. Louis, urged residents to get out of town amid concerns the Missouri River levee there could break.
The worst of the damage was along smaller rivers.
The Black River that runs from southeast Missouri into northeast Arkansas was down after cresting at record levels earlier this week in places such as Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and Pocahontas, Arkansas. But the mess left behind was substantial. More than 100 members of the Arkansas National Guard are assisting with the flood-fighting effort. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said 25 guard vehicles are prepared for high-water rescues as needed in an area where at least nine levee breaches have been reported.
The Meramec River in suburban St. Louis also is on the decline. A levee at Valley Park, Missouri, was holding, as is a sandbag levee consisting of 250,000 bags in nearby Eureka. But the river remains dangerously high, and St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar urged patience for evacuated residents anxious to get back home.
Health officials also warned residents that raw sewage, chemicals and other dangerous material in floodwater created contamination concerns. Wildlife displaced by flooding also pose a potential threat.
Hundreds of roads remain closed, including a busy stretch of Interstate 44 in suburban St. Louis. But southbound Interstate 55, which closed Wednesday, reopened Thursday morning.
Traffic is closed on the Mississippi River. The U.S. Coast Guard late Tuesday closed a 14.5-mile stretch of the river near St. Louis, blocking a vital passageway for moving agricultural goods and other products.