There were a some bright spots on Missouri highways as rain continued to pour down Wednesday.
U.S. 63 south of Vienna reopened to traffic about 3 p.m. Wednesday, after being closed by Gasconade River floodwaters since Sunday.
U.S. 50 west of Mount Sterling could reopen today.
Interstate 44 at Hazelgreen, east of Lebanon, was reopened after Transportation department crews and a private contractor resurfaced the highway torn up by fast-moving flood currents. The southbound lanes of I-55, which had closed Wednesday night at the Meramec River, reopened Thursday.
But I-44 remained closed for a 25-mile stretch in St. Louis and Franklin counties.
And those are just some of the more than 200 state highways that remained closed Wednesday, as flooding continued in southern and eastern Missouri, state Highways and Transportation Commissioners were told Wednesday. (See modot.org for a detailed map and latest updates.)
"This department sprung to action, as it does so well, to keep the public safe," Director Patrick McKenna said. "We've been working pretty much around the clock."
Commission Chairman Michael Pace, of West Plains - who said he'd been kept from his home for several days because of the floods - reminded MoDOT administrators their employees will start to have problems if they work too many 12-hour days without a break.
State Maintenance Engineer Becky Allmeroth said MoDOT began planning for flooding with rainfall predictions of 7-8 inches.
"We got between 3 and 15 inches of rain," she said. "That's just a devastating amount of water to be dealing with."
Eight major rivers had record flood levels, Allmeroth reported.
"We thought we had a spectacular event back in December 2015," she noted, "and this one just blew it out of the water on some of these rivers - which just left us awestruck."
Among the record-setters was the Gasconade River, which crested Tuesday night at Rich Fountain at 37.45 feet - 17.45 feet above flood stage.
At Vienna, Central District Engineer Dave Silvester said the flood currents tore the shoulder away from the highway, leaving a 6- to 8- foot drop next to the driving lanes.
Even after the floodwaters receded, he said, MoDOT didn't reopen the road until the shoulder was repaired.
"We hauled rock out of two quarries," he explained. "We had 24-26 tandem-axle dump trucks that were down there, and close to 30-40 people to get that built back in.
"This is the third time in five years they've had to fix that shoulder."
It's a temporary repair, Silvester said. They'll return in a few weeks and put asphalt on top of the gravel.
Today, he said, after the water gets off U.S. 50 west of the Gasconade at Mount Sterling, MoDOT crews will repair pavement broken by the flooding, then reopen the highway to traffic.
The Missouri River at Hermann crested Wednesday at 35.39 feet, 14.39 feet above the 21-foot flood stage, closing parts of Missouri 100. And the flood backup in Frene Creek had closed Missouri 19, as well.
"At the very least, what we're seeing is two '500-year' flooding events within 18 months of each other," McKenna told the News Tribune. "We are just at the beginning of this (one)."
Silvester said the flooding this week "has been incredibly more than what we saw in December 2015."
MoDOT officials noted they're likely to have other flood-related problems develop in the coming months, even though the floodwaters will be long gone.