Business Management

Missouri continues flood fight; Mississippi, Meramec still rising.
VALLEY PARK, Mo. (AP) - Residents here are bracing for floodwaters this weekend that are already testing levees, closing roads and soaking homes and businesses. Torrential rains earlier in the week are just now making river levels surge west of St. Louis, even as residents in southern Missouri dig out from deadly flash floods from Tuesday.

‘The center of the flood fight now moves right here to the Meramec River and southern St. Louis County and Jefferson County,’ Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said late Friday.Valley Park borders the Meramec River, and residents are crossing their fingers that the town”s $49 million earthen levee, built in 2005 to withstand a 100-year flood, will pass its first big test. The surging Meramec was expected to crest at a record 40 feet on Saturday - 24 feet above flood stage.Army Corps of Engineers spokesman George Stringham said some water had seeped through the levee, but the leakage was not unusual and did not pose any danger to the levee”s structural integrity.