( KTRS ) At a time of the year when both precipitation and the river level typically are low, there could be record crests in some places along the Mississippi.

The river already was high due to an unseasonably warm, wet late fall and early winter. 6 to 10 inches of rain have fallen since Saturday in parts of eastern Missouri and western Illinois. The Mississippi is expected to reach 49.9 feet by Friday in Chester, Illinois, just south of St. Louis.

Major flooding is predicted at several other points from just north of St. Louis through the South. The mayor of West Alton, MO, 20 miles north of St. Louis, ordered the 520 residents to evacuate because the flood levee isn’t high enough for the expected crest.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay declared a flood emergency