Predictions of excessive rainfall in the upper Mississippi River Basin has forced the National Weather Service to issue a flood alert for the Mississippi River at Vicksburg.

According to the alert, the Mississippi is forecast to reach 41 feet by March 11.

“Excessive rainfall is forecast to occur upstream of us in Arkansas and up in Missouri, so it goes well up in the Midwest,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Tarver. “There’s a lot of rain forecast all the way up the river. There will be a lot of water flowing into the river and making its way down here.”

He said the NWS will update the river stages twice a day.

As of 3:30 p.m., the Mississippi was at 31.8 feet. It is expected to reach 32.8 feet Thursday and 33.4 feet Friday. According to the NWS quantitative prediction forecast, which looks at rainfall over a period of several days, an estimated 4 to 7 inches of rain is forecast to fall in the upper Mississippi Basin between Tuesday and Feb. 27.

Greg Raimondo, public affairs director for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District, said district officials are watching the rainfall and the river.

“I checked all the (Corps) reservoirs in Arkansas and over into Texas, and they’re all at their conservation pool; they have all their flood storage still available,” he said. “Our lakes in Arkansas, one of them is about 9 feet below where it needs to be, and the other two are about 6 1/2 feet below.

“The main thing is, we’re going to keep watching the predictions from the National Weather Service.”

Meanwhile, Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer is advising the public to keep an eye on the weather today through Thursday with the possibility of 2-4 inches of rain that could cause some flooding issues.

“There is the possibility of some localized heavy rain Wednesday into Thursday,” Elfer said. “We encourage everyone to pay attention to changing weather, have your alert system in place and avoid flood prone areas.”