The Mississippi River at Vicksburg is expected to continue to climb daily until May 13 when it will crest at 52.5 feet, the highest the river has been here since 1937, officials said this morning.

“We’ve got water coming down on top of heavy rain,” said Marty Pope, senior service hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson. “It’s looking pretty bad right now. We have lots of rain to come, too.”

The Mississippi River at Cairo, Ill., at the confluence with the Ohio River, stood at 53.5 feet overnight, 13.5 feet above flood stage, and it was predicted to crest there May 3 at 60 feet.

The stage at Vicksburg stood at 39.2 feet this morning after a 43.3-foot crest March 31 cinched the third official flood in four years.

Its second crest this spring is predicted to be 52.5 feet on May 13 — the highest since 1937, when the river topped out at 53.2 feet. In 2008, the river topped out at 50.9 feet, the highest since 1973 when it reached 51.6 feet.