Davenport experienced flooding from a record flood level in 2019, when the river gauge at Rock Island Lock and Dam registered a crest flood of 22.70 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record was set in 1993.
On Tuesday, the city’s Department of Public Works announced a detour to River Drive and urged residents to exercise caution as river levels rise.
More than 1.4 million people were under flood warnings Tuesday. according to the weather servicewith advisories along stretches of the Mississippi River from North Dakota to parts of Missouri.
The “spring melt flood of 2023” will work its way downstream over the next two weeks, the weather service for the Quad Cities region of Iowa and Illinois said in a forecast discussion. Flooding was occurring from Dubuque, Iowa, to Illinois City, Illinois, she said.
In California, where a series of «atmospheric rivers» drenched the state and blanketed higher elevations with feet of snow, Yosemite National Park announced plans Tuesday to close to visitors.
Most of Yosemite Valley will be closed Friday and through at least May 3 due to expected flooding from the Merced River, the national park of the same name said. The weather service said higher temperatures with higher rates of snowmelt were the cause.
In California’s Central Valley, Gov. Gavin Newsom toured existing flood damage in Kings and Tulare counties Tuesday, vowing the state would monitor the situation and be there to help.
Homes have been destroyed and flooding has made land in agricultural region «unharvestable,» Tulare County Supervisor Eddie Valero said, with melting snow hitting the valley floor in the coming months.
Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said the area is facing a «historic thaw season.»
She said officials will work with the federal government in the coming weeks to divert as much water as possible before it reaches the region.
Newsom, standing on a clear day near flooded areas with equipment still in the water, said more water is on the way and it’s getting higher by the day. He said that the snow cover in the nearby parts of the Sierra Nevada is 320% of average.
“You can look at a scene like this and think that the worst is going to recede, that the worst is behind us,” he said. «When, in reality, quite the opposite.»