Its bad when United States Coast Guard sector Mississippi issues a strong warning for pleasure boaters to stay off the river. This is a little different from the small craft advisories we see on The Great Lakes. The current outside the marina is running over 6 knots. On top of the water speed there is floating debris the size of tree trunks. Dorothy and I thought it best to stay awhile in this little town of 650 people. We are docked at Grafton Marina which has floating docks on 30′ pilings. So we will rise with the flood waters. Once the parking lot is underwater and we want to get off the boat the Marina will pick us up by water taxi to take us to higher ground. Our friends Glyn and Laura Livermore on SV Peregrine left just in time last week and they had a harrowing trip.
The Mississippi River is on the rise. Flood stage is 18′ and we are at 24′ currently. By Monday night we will be at 25+ feet. Then we will need to wait until at least Saturday before we can move down river.
Some flood photos so far;
In 1993 the town of Grafton, IL was completely wiped out by flood waters. They have been rebuilding ever since. Thank Goodness we are not going to get anywhere near 38 feet this week.
SEASONS underway 