ST. LOUIS — The latest round of Midwestern flooding claimed at least four lives, closed hundreds of roads and forced residents of river towns to shore up threatened levees with sandbags as waters rose to and near record levels in some communities.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings Friday along a large swath of the Mississippi River, as well as flash flood watches for parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas after recent rounds of heavy rain.

The body of a missing kayaker was found Friday in a swollen southwest Missouri creek. Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. John Lueckenhoff identified the man as 35-year-old Scott M. Puckett of Forsyth, Missouri. The body of his friend, Alex Ekern, 23, was found Thursday.

Puckett and Ekern were among three men who began paddling Wednesday afternoon in Bull Creek. The patrol said they were swept over a low-water bridge and caught in what is called a hydraulic, which creates a washing-machine effect that is hard to escape. One of the men survived.

In Davenport, Iowa, concerns were that even after the Mississippi River reached a record height, the worst was far from over. The crest inched above the 1993 record Thursday, and forecasters are calling for up to 4 inches of additional rain next week. The river at the Quad Cities has been at major flood stage or higher for 41 consecutive days.

Historic flooding was happening elsewhere along the river, too. The National Weather Service is now projecting flood levels to reach the second- or third-highest ever at several Mississippi River towns in northeast Missouri — Hannibal, Louisiana, Clarksville and Winfield — and western Illinois towns such as Quincy, Alton and Grafton.