Rivers in Illinois

Mississippi River at New Boston

Mercer County, IllinoisNWS NBOI2Davenport office

Action stage
14.03ftStage

Observed Wed, Sep 23, 3:40 PM CDT

Flood stage
15.00 ft
Forecast crest
14.10 ftWed, Sep 23, 7:00 PM CDT
Record crest
25.90 ft1993

Open the live map with the river flood outlook

Flood stages and impacts

CategoryStage
Major flood18.50 ft
Moderate flood16.50 ft
Minor flood15.00 ft
Action14.00 ft
  1. 26.00 ftWater overtops the levee at L&D 17.
  2. 21.10 ftWater overtops the upper spillway at Lake Odessa.
  3. 21.00 ftWater affects grain elevators in New Boston. Water overtops the upper lock wall of L&D 17.
  4. 20.60 ftThe Lake Odessa levee overtops.
  5. 19.20 ftWater overtops the spillway at the south end of Lake Odessa.
  6. 18.10 ftLock and Dam 17 is closed.

Flood outlook

Chance of flooding, September to November

CategoryChance
Minor flooding8%
Moderate flooding6%
Major floodingUnder 5%

The three-month chances are the River Forecast Centers’ long-range flood outlook, issued August 28, 2026.

Crest history

58 crests on NOAA’s list since 1937.

#DateStage
1July 9, 199325.90 ft
2June 17, 200825.20 ft
3June 1, 201924.42 ft
4May 3, 201923.59 ft
5April 28, 196523.14 ft
6April 25, 200122.46 ft
7May 1, 200821.83 ft
8April 25, 197321.73 ft
9April 10, 201921.04 ft
10April 24, 201120.96 ft
11May 3, 202320.85 ft
12July 11, 202420.82 ft
13April 26, 196919.76 ft
14May 8, 197519.70 ft
15April 21, 199719.67 ft
16April 28, 195119.61 ft
17October 7, 198619.50 ft
18April 28, 195219.44 ft
19June 26, 197418.98 ft
20April 7, 197918.76 ft
21September 30, 201618.70 ft
22April 4, 196018.68 ft
23May 12, 201818.47 ft
24June 2, 200418.05 ft
25June 29, 194418.04 ft

Most recent crests

  • April 24, 2026: 17.16 ft
  • July 11, 2024: 20.82 ft
  • May 3, 2023: 20.85 ft
  • June 1, 2019: 24.42 ft
  • May 3, 2019: 23.59 ft
  • April 10, 2019: 21.04 ft
  • May 12, 2018: 18.47 ft
  • June 1, 2017: 17.79 ft
  • September 30, 2016: 18.70 ft
  • March 29, 2016: 16.24 ft

Nearby

Upstream, downstream and the gauges around this one.

What this means

Forecasts by the North Central River Forecast Center. Forecasts are issued routinely year-round. River forecasts for this location take into account past precipitation and the precipitation amounts expected approximately 48 hours into the future from the forecast issuance time.

Sources

Stage, flood stages, impacts and crest history from NOAA’s National Water Prediction Service.