Impressive rainfall totals for Mid-Missouri since last week

Since April 26, the rain has been falling across Mid-Missouri leading to historic flooding and numerous roads closed. Not only did we close April as one of the wettest months ever (ranked sixth), but May is starting off on a wet note as well, as the prolonged flooding continues across the state.

Just how much rain have we received? As of Wednesday afternoon, the weekly rainfall total is nearly eight inches , which is 20 percent of the yearly average rain in Missouri. And with an additional 1-3 inches of rain likely through Thursday afternoon, we’ll easily eclipse 25 percent of our annual rain totals in just one week.

It’s for this reason we are seeing flash flood watches, flood warnings and rising rivers across the state. Once again many rivers in Mid-Missouri are on the threshold of being in major flood stage, prolonging the flooding issues we are already seeing in Mid-Missouri.

While most of Wednesday afternoon has seen a break in the rain, the heaviest bands of rain look to arrive through the evening into the overnight hours. It’s this rain that is likely to bring the bulk of the flooding across Mid-Missouri.

Once the rain ends Thursday, there is high confidence that we’ll see below average rainfall through the middle of the month. This is good news, as it will allow river levels to return to normal and debris to be cleaned up.