7 Day Forecast
Steady, prolonged rain from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl engulfed the St. Louis region Tuesday, with forecasters anticipating that local rainfall from the storm would total 1 to 3 inches, or more in some places.
The projected rainfall was less than what forecasters had predicted Monday, when 2 to 4 inches were expected across the area.
Beryl, which shattered multiple records for its extreme earliness and strength as a hurricane, has now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone since making landfall.
Still a prolific producer of rain, the storm will confront some smaller river basins with threats of flooding, such as the Meramec, which is projected to rise about 9 feet by Thursday — climbing into minor flood stage, where there is “possibly some public threat,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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Additionally, the St. Louis region, along with much of the Midwest and Northeast, faces “slight” risks of flash flooding — meaning at least 15% — as the storm tracks over the continent, NOAA said.
Though remnants of hurricanes have triggered past flood issues in and near the St. Louis region — like those from Hurricane Ike in 2008 — the rain from Tuesday’s storm fell at a rate that was not fast enough to overwhelm streams or trigger flooding in some sensitive areas.
For example, along University City’s flood-prone stretch of the River Des Peres, officials and experts said the storm was well within the bounds of what the waterway could handle — since local flash flood problems ordinarily arise from rates of rainfall multiple times greater than what Beryl provided.
“It’s looking pretty good,” said Chief Bill Hinson of the University City Fire Department, adding that the local stretch of the River Des Peres was “not anywhere close to cresting any of the walls or banks” along its sides.
View life in St. Louis through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.