Missouri’s governor is expected to discuss flooding during an ag day event Thursday morning in northern Missouri’s Nelson, near Marshall.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson is given an aerial tour of the flooding damage near northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph on March 15, 2019 (photo courtesy of the governor’s office)
Governor Mike Parson (R) will be hosting his first “Farmer’s Talk” of the 2019 season Thursday at the Christy Farm in Nelson. It’s part of the 34th annual KMMO (FM 102.9) Ag Day hosted by our Missourinet Marshall affiliate.
Governor Parson told Capitol reporters this week that all available resources will be used to assist Missourians with flooding. Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) Director Chris Chinn will join the governor for the Nelson event.
Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst calls this an “unprecedented early-season flood”, saying it will prevent many farmers from planting a crop this year. Hurst also says that damage done to highways, bridges and railroads in north Missouri “will take months and years to repair.”
Meantime, members of the state’s congressional delegation in both parties have been touring areas in northern Missouri impacted by the devastating flooding.
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, who represents 36 counties across north Missouri, will be heading to northwest Missouri’s Holt County on Thursday to meet with local officials.
A view of the flooding damage in northwest Missouri (March 15, 2019 photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s office)
The state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) says I-29 remains closed from the Missouri-Iowa border all the way to St. Joseph, because of flooding.
Congressman Graves tells Missourinet affiliate KMA that there is heavy road, grain and railroad right-of-way damage in northwest Missouri.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, visited Orrick Wednesday to tour flooding damage. Orrick is in Ray County, northeast of Kansas City.
Congressman Cleaver is urging his constituents to heed all flood warnings and to stay strong.