Rains continue to fall; some water levels nearing flood stage

Heavy rains continued to fall Friday afternoon in Columbia, bringing totals to more than 6 inches in parts of northeastern Boone County since Wednesday according to the National Weather Service. “There’s still quite a bit of rain in the area,” said Weather Service forecaster Doug Tilly. “Most of the rain is going to be isolated over the area through tonight, and the rain tomorrow shouldn’t be that heavy, but still, it’s more rain.”

As of 1:30 p.m. Friday, nearly 3.47 inches of rain had fallen at Columbia Regional Airport since Wednesday, with 2.72 inches falling on Thursday alone. Sanborn Field on the MU campus had recorded 3.01 inches of rain as of 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Tilly said there are no immediate plans for a flood warning for Boone County, but did caution it is getting close in some areas. “We’ve had no big road closings, but the water is getting close to coming over quite a few banks.”

Tilly said the Weather Service is expecting the flash flood watch for Boone County to expire sometime Friday evening.

Despite the soaking of the last three days, Boone County is still 1.98 inches of rain below normal for the year.