St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 16

16A ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH THURSDAY, JULY 1. 1993 NGER SALE Wo OFF DAYWEAR v. if mm mtm jo. mh LI Yvv 1 1 ENTIRE STOCK VANITY FAIR WARNER'S MAIDENFORM SALE reg.

Your favorite camisoles, petticoats, full slips and more in great styles and colors for sizes S-M-L-XL Shown: Warner's lace medal-lion camisole and petticoat. Camisole, reg. $15, SALE 11.25. Petticoat, reg. $16, SALE $12.

Daywear. Sale in progress; ends July 1 1 TTH Wwf 'f 5 rfJC 0 Kevin ManningPost-Dispatch Four friends in a four-wheel-drive vehicle taking a spin Wednesday along Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard on the riverfront. The street was open only to vehicles that could clear the floodwater. Storms Prompt Even More Floods Near Mississippi In Upper Midwest FAMOUSBARR Mississippi, was under a flash flood watch Wednesday after a night of heavy rains.

More than 4 inches of rain fell north of Chicago. Most of the farm fields affected are not flooded by the Mississippi itself but have been rendered useless by more than a week of the same heavy rainfall that has forced the river to overflow its banks. In Davenport, officials said when the river crests there Saturday, the rising water would equal or perhaps surpass the worst flood in the city's history, the flood in 1965. Emergency shelters were being set up and the post office was forced to move operations from its premises to an old Sears Roebuck building whose owners rented it to postal officials for 1993, Reuters News Service DAVENPORT, Iowa Tornadoes, heavy rains and severe thunderstorms struck the Mississippi River watershed again Wednesday, adding to flood problems along 500 miles of the waterway. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy flew across the stricken region where nearly 3 million acres of soybeans remain unplanted because of soggy, water-covered fields.

"It is clear we need to do something because there are millions of acres of soybeans unplanted and the corn is not doing well," he said during a stop in Dumont, Iowa, referring to possible disaster assistance steps. The northern two-thirds of Illinois, including many streams that feed the LINGERIE SALE $1- Patty Nelson, who lives on the river south of Clinton, Iowa, and works in Moline, 111., said: "Normally out my front window at home I see 100 acres of corn and Highway 30 we're about six miles from the river. Now those farm fields don't exist. It's all water." She said Davenport's baseball stadium has water covering some of the stands and downtown businesses in Davenport and neighboring Betten-dorf are struggling to stay open. Villages on both sides of the river in the Quad Cities area were underwater, but no deaths had been reported in the region.

Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar said he will declare 15 counties along the Mississippi and Rock Rivers as disaster areas today, the start of the state's next fiscal year. "This declaration will allow us to marshal state resources to fight the flooding and help victims rebound from damage caused by the swollen waters," Edgar said. Edgar said he was waiting to issue the disaster declaration until the start of the new fiscal year because the state had spend its disaster relief fund during the floods this past spring. TVi cm Ann Cities South Of Here May Not Get Floods OToUtf ENTIRE STOCK CONTROL National Weather Service's river forecast center in Slidell.

"As the water is flowing downstream, it is not creating a massive flood wave," Cry said. A small rise is expected later from about Cairo, 111., to Vicksburg, and an even smaller rise is forecast down to New Orleans, Cry said. SLIDELL, La. (AP) Cities along the lower part of the Mississippi River won't have to worry about the severe flooding that has damaged homes and farm fields in the upper Midwest, a forecaster said Wednesday. The lower basin is fed by the Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Arkansas rivers.

Those rivers are at seasonal levels or below, said George Cry of GARMENTS Floods was flooded, said emergency coordinator Harry McClain. Farmers now fear levee breaks. The first major one occurred Wednesday in extreme northeastern Missouri on the Fox River, near where it joins the Mississippi. The break left a 100-foot-long gap and flooded about 800 acres of farmland, authorities said. The Clark County sheriff's office said authorities were closely watching several weak spots in levees along both rivers.

"All the levees are saturated and have been saturated for two months, and any of them could go at any time," said a spokesman. Norman Haerr, who farms in West Quincy, in northeastern Missouri, said river water is seeping through the ground and coming up in his fields. From page one Weather Service says. The Army Corps of Engineers has forecast that the Mississippi above Grafton will stay at or above flood stage for the month. The Mississippi at St.

Louis is expected to drop below flood stage in the middle of this month. The St. Charles County Emergency Management Agency has distributed 20,000 sandbags this week to shore up levees and protect property. "It looks like it's going to be YOUR FAVORITE STYLES FROM: FLEXEES SUBTRACT BALI UNDERSCENE VANITY FAIR PLAYTEX SALE 5.62-31.50, reg. 7.50-$42.

Choose from a variety of control garments to help flatter your figure. Shown: Flexees lustre brief In white, blush or black for sizes S-M-L-XL, reg. $12, SALE $9. Sale In progress; ends July 1 1 Styles, colors and sizes vary by store. Missouri JA, Acreage Ayo Normally Planted Unplanted Soybeans 4.9 million 49,000 Corn 2.6 million 300,000 Wheat 1.3 million N.A.

Sorghum 700,000 42,000 His 450-acre farm has not dried since the river overflowed its banks April 1. He has been unable to plant about a quarter of his land. His cousin, Brent Hoerr, has a farm about 20 miles north of Hannibal, Mo. "I wouldn't be surprised if levees would break," he said. "That would be economic disaster in certain areas for quite a few farmers." Hoerr has all but about 80 acres planted.

Rain, flooding and fear of more of the same has made this season a particularly stressful one for farmers. William Heffernan, a rural sociologist at the University of Missouri at Columbia, said July 1 is a cutoff of LI worse than the last flood, said Gary Schuchardt, director of the St. Charles County Emergency Management Agency. Officials earlier said the renewed rise in the Mississippi wouldn't be as bad as in the spring, when the water forced about 400 St. Charles County families to move out.

Schuchardt said some farmers are facing "a tragic situation." The spring flooding delayed planting. Then, when the water finally receded, farmers rushed in to seed. "Now they are fighting for their crops," he said. Rising water also flooded farms in Illinois. In western Illinois, several hundred acres of farmland were FAMOUSBARR 'Estimate that is due to Post-Dispatch graphic rain Hooding.

N.A. Not Available Source: U.S. Agricultural Stabilization Conservation Service in Mo. LINGERIE SALE sorts for farmers. They can do some planting in June, but "once you hit the first of July, there's not much hope left in getting a crop," he said.

"If they don't have 10, 15 percent of their land in, they don't have any profit this year," he said. The Associated Press and Al Stamborski of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed information for this story. inundated in Henderson County. "We're praying for the rain to stop," said John M. Carrier, coordinator of Henderson County's Emergency Services and Disaster Agency.

"We can sandbag, we can try to hold the river back, but if it keeps raining, we start looking at preventing loss of life." At least 20 percent of farmland in Mercer County, 111., SALE 3 FOR PANTS RY FAMOUS MAKERS St. Louis Proclaims Its Highness And Dryness YOUR FAVORITE STYLES FROM; MAIDENFORM VANITY FAIR WARNER'S' 1 T' Choose from a terrific selection of styles including bikinis, hi-cuts, briefs and hip-. sters in many colors for sizes 5-10. Shown: Warner's Bright Stripes brief for sizes 5-8, reg. 3 for SALE 3 for 7.99.

In sizes 9-1 0: reg. 3 for $1 3, SALE 3 for 8.99. Sale in progress; ends July 11. BRA PANT CLUB Buy any 6 bras and get the 7th of equal or lesser value free. Buy any 12 pants and get the 13th of equal or lesser value free.

See your sales associate for details. By Patricia Corrigan Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Did you hear the one about Union Station being underwater? Nancy Milton, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, has heard that and more from tourists and even some residents who are under the impression that much of our fair city is Submerged. "We're working hard to get the word out that St. Louis is not underwater," Milton said Wednesday.

"We've had a lot of calls from people with that impression, people who say they heard it somewhere or saw shots on national television of flooding on the upper Mississippi River. It's confusing, I guess." Milton stressed that "there is no problem with access to our attractions." "We have a great year going for tourism, and there is no reason not to come here," she said. Milton and her staff are sending faxes to travel editors and television stations around the country to reassure the water-wary that the VP Fair will go on as scheduled July 3-5 and that only a small area of the levee is flooded. Flooding has altered the course of the 15th annual Great Steamboat Race between the Delta Queen and the Mississippi Queen. Because of high water, the boats cannot pass beneath the bridges and come into St.

Louis, so the race will end 60 miles south, in Ste. Genevieve. The race, a re-enactment of one held in 1870 between the Rob't E. Lee and the Natchez, was to have covered 1,134 miles from New Orleans to St. Louis.

In St. Charles, Mayor Grace M. Nichols is putting out the word that her city is high and dry. National television coverage has misled people, Nichols said in a statement issued Wednesday. "There is no flooding problem in the city of St.

Charles," the statement reads, and "the Riverfest Fourth of July Festival on the Missouri Riverfront in St. Charles is unaffected." Nichols also noted that the National Landmark Gold-enrod Showboat continues to offer theatrical presentations and the Spirit of St. Charles excursion riverboat still is chugging along. The word out of Alton is that the Alton Belle Casino is operational and cruising, and will meet its full schedule over the July 4 weekend. "The Alton Belle Casino is located on Alton Lake, which is formed by the Melvin Price Lock and Dam and designed for recreational use," reads a statement from John A.

Reichert, vice president of marketing for the boat. "Due to the wide water expanse over a greater area, the lake does not suffer from the narrow river channel that is affecting traffic above and below the lake." Despite the rising water, the Casino Queen is also open. Sue Schell, assistant to the general manager, said, "The boat is not going on excursions, but it's still open for business as usual. We're fine." She said crowds were down Wednesday because of the confusion, but phone calls were up from people wanting to know if the boat was open. ii 1 IJ 1 1 It FAMOUSBARR.