In Clarksville, Mo., where the Mississippi River now covers half of the riverfront park, crews have sandbags handy for what could be the highest crest yet during this long, soggy summer.

Clarksville Mayor Jo Anne Smiley said the river has flooded the park four times this year but never reached the business district. But the forecast for Saturday would flood Front Street, which is why the sandbags are nearby.

The forecast calls for 32.4 feet, or 7.4 feet over flood stage and 3 feet more than the river's level Tuesday. It reached 31.5 feet there on June 25.

The record at Clarksville, during the 1993 flood, is 37.5 feet.

If the river hits 32 feet, said Clarksville emergency chief Bud Garrison, volunteers will stack sandbags along Front Street businesses, including the Dugout II. That bar was the unofficial flood-fighting headquarters in 1993, when high sandbag walls held back the river.

Clarksville, population 500, is 60 miles north of St. Louis. Part of its old business district is vulnerable because it doesn't have a levee, as does Hannibal, Mo., and is on low ground, unlike the downtown of nearby Louisiana, Mo.

In St. Louis, the Mississippi has been above flood stage for 50 of the 73 days since May 15.

The river has been falling at St. Louis since Saturday, when it reached 2 feet over flood stage. Since May 1, the river has risen twice to 5 feet above flood — enough to keep the summertime concerts away from the Arch, but not much of other serious consequence.

The river was at 31 feet on Tuesday at the Arch, 1 foot over flood stage but almost 19 feet lower than the 1993 record.

Upriver, heavy rain such as the downpours July 20 in northern Missouri have kept the Mississippi high.

Mark Fuchs, hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Weldon Spring, said the upper Mississippi is rising again because of 8-inch rains last weekend across Wisconsin and Iowa.

Fuchs said there is no indication of major changes in this summer's pattern, although no major rain is forecast for the two-state region through the week.

The Missouri River rose to flood stage at St. Charles on Friday but has since fallen. Thunderstorms rushing through the metro area on Tuesday dumped heavy rain, including 3.5 inches of rain in Arnold, but the rainfall wasn't expected to significantly affect the Mississippi.