The swelling Missouri River in northwest Missouri has caused seeping levees and farm and home evacuations in the river valley following that record water release upstream. Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says he’s not sure if it’s overtopped at Rockport but it’s getting very close following some partial levee breakage in Hamburg, Iowa, along the Iowa Missouri line, and agriculture is seeing the effects.
The Burlington/Northern Railroad has pulled their cars out of the bottom because of fear of flooding, so it’s hard for farmers to get grain and other crops out of the area before it floods.
Missouri Farmers Union President Richard Oswald, who farms in Northwest Missouri’s Atchison County, says he’s grateful Department of Ag Director Jon Hagler answered his request for expanded weight limits for farm trucks this month. Oswald says it’s allowing grain, livestock and machinery to be moved out of flood zones as quickly and safely as possible.
Hurst says even though they’ve been assured that federal crop insurance will cover farmers’ losses from all the flooding in the state, but there’s no insurance for the long-term damage done to the land. He says there’s no coverage at all for the damage done to the land, for the sand that’s left or for the drainage ditches that become filled up.
He says many farmers will ne relying heavily on help from the government and the National Guard.
Julie Harker of Brownfield contributed to this report.
