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Mississippi River cresting in flood-hit Illinois, southern Missouri

Mississippi River cresting in flood-hit Illinois, southern Missouri

By Eric Levenson, CNN

Updated 1912 GMT (0312 HKT) May 6, 2017

Source: CNN

Video shows flooding overtaking town 00:46

Story highlights

• The Mississippi River crested near its record height Saturday near Cape Girardeau
• Extensive flooding from a week of rain has hit the central United States

(CNN)Nearly 10 million people across the Midwest were under a flood warning Saturday as several spots along the Mississippi River were expected to reach near-record crests this weekend, the latest threats to a region that got slammed this week by severe flooding.

The river's cresting -- the highest stage or level of a flood wave -- was due to affect communities in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said.

Even after a river crests, flooding can still be a problem.

Use the slider to move left or right and reveal the devastating flooding that is affecting the Midwest. The NASA satellite image on the left was taken last month, the one on the right on May 2. Scientists shaded the image so that green represents live vegetation, brown is lack of vegetation, and blue is water.

NASA/Terra

Those who live near the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau in southern Illinois and southeast Missouri prepared for an onslaught.

The Mississippi River, which separates the two states, crested late Saturday morning at 45.8 feet near Cape Girardeau, near its record high crest of 48.9 feet.

Floods already have killed six people in Missouri and seven in Arkansas, including a 10-year-old who was swept away while climbing a fence to avoid the water, officials said.

Exit signs on Highway 141 near the Meramec River are submerged on May 4, in Valley Park, Missouri.

Floods late this week ravaged communities near St. Louis due to cresting of the Meramec River, which runs into the Mississippi River. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri posted video Friday from a helicopter showing flooding in Eureka, a suburb of St. Louis.

"The smaller rivers always recede sooner. A small creek would rise fairly quickly, and will come down fairly quickly," said Mark Fuchs of the National Weather Service in St. Louis.

The Captains' Return statue, which honors explorers Lewis and Clark, sits partially submerged on May 5, in a flooding Mississippi River in St. Louis. The statue was just moved to higher ground to avoid floods.

"Eventually, that water goes out to the larger river, which is the last thing to rise and the last thing to crest," Fuchs said.

CNN's Faith Karimi, Gene Norman, Haley Brink, Samira Said, Janet DiGiacomo, Chuck Johnston, David Williams and Jeanne Bonner contributed to this report.