flooding Archives - Missourinet

Interstate 29 open again in Northwest Missouri

May 8, 2019 By Ashley Byrd

Compiled with information from Missouri Department of Transportation

Interstate 29 reopened today to all traffic between Exit 56 and the Iowa state line. The roadway has been closed since late March for massive flooding.

According to MoDot, the closure on the Missouri side was extended, with the exception of local traffic accessing their homes and businesses, until the Iowa Department of Transportation was able to reopen its section of I-29 Wednesday morning.

There are possible delays approximately eight miles north of the Missouri border, where traffic moves head-to-head with a 12-foot width restriction in place. Loads larger than those dimensions must use an alternate route.

Many other routes throughout the region remain flooded, both in Missouri and Iowa. Travelers do not have access to several roads west of I-29 in Atchison and Holt counties due to flooding and damage. These include U.S. Routes 159 and 136, commonly referred to as the Rulo and Brownville Missouri River Crossings, which remain closed.

For updated information regarding route restoration and flooding, visit the Northwest Missouri Flooding webpage and interactive map.

Governors of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska meet with Army Corps officials to discuss flood-prevention

April 4, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Three governors feeling the pain of major flooding recently are calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to change its management of the Missouri River. The governors of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa met Wednesday in Iowa with Corps and Federal Emergency Management officials to talk about growing flooding problems. At a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Council Bluffs, Governor Mike Parson says something needs to change.

Three governors at meeting with Army Corps and FEMA officials (photo from @GovParsonMO twitter account)

“For far too long, we’ve had these incidents occur and we’ve had meeting after meeting, but it seems to be the same results all the time. I think it’s time that we need some straight up answers from the Corps of Engineers of how they’re managing the river,” says Parson.

Northwest and southeast Missouri have especially been hit hard by recent flooding. Parson has made a couple of trips to northwest Missouri to view the damage. About half of Nebraska has been devastated by flood waters.

“First of all, we’ve got to find out just kind of what happened. I think we are still looking for those answers,” says Parson. “But more importantly, what can we do in the short-term and what can we do in the long-term. We’re still not out of the woods yet. We still have got water coming out, snow melt and ice coming out, plus spring rains that could really affect us.”

Parson, a Republican, says the management of the river is key to the citizens of each state.

“When you look at the states that are involved here of the Missouri River, it has a huge impact on the United States of what it is we do,” Parson says. “We are totally dependent on the management of those rivers for a lot of reasons. When you talk about that livelihood, that economic development side of it, it is really centered around the management of the rivers. That affects every one of us and the people of our states and the economy of our states. That’s really how important this is.”

From left to right, Governors Parson of Missouri, Ricketts of Nebraska & Reynolds of Iowa (Photo from @GovRicketts Twitter account)

He says there need to be other solutions to prevent further flooding issues.

“You look at the reservoir situation. Can we have more reservoir space to be able to handle this water that we know is going to be coming here every year? Can we build maybe more levees,” asks Parson. “But I think more importantly, does the state take more of an active role in these decisions instead of just leaving it up to one agency? I think the states will have to take more of a role in the management of the river and the Corps is going to have to work with us from a different perspective of what we’ve done than in the past.”

Last Friday, Parson signed an executive order giving the Missouri Department of Natural Resources some flexibility in easing requirements during and after recent Missouri flooding.

He says river management needs to get back to the basics by prioritizing flooding and safety.

Travel problems prevented the governor of Kansas from attending the gathering, but she plans to be part of the next meeting in three weeks.

Missouri Congressman Graves: flooding worse than in 1993

March 21, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Photo courtesy of KMA News in Shenandoah, Iowa

Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves is concerned about long-range effects of flooding underway in his region. Many people are comparing this disaster to the epic 2011 Missouri River flooding. The Tarkio Republican tells Missourinet affiliate KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa this event is worse than the flood of 1993.

To view the story, click here.

Flooding causes major roadblocks for Missouri farmers

March 20, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Record-breaking flooding expected in northwest Missouri will be felt by farmers for months. Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst tells Missourinet the damage to the infrastructure will be a struggle.

Flooding causes major roadblocks for Missouri farmers

“The difficulties in travel. The difficulties in moving grain, moving fertilizer, moving seed. We have visited with several people that had seed stored over there for the spring season. They had to move it out,” he says. “It will be hard to get fertilizer to northwest Missouri from the west.”

Hurst has farm land in Atchison County’s Tarkio. He says his land luckily has not been damaged but 20 miles down the road near Rock Port is a different story.

“It will be hard, a lot of us deliver grain to a big elevator over there west of Rockport that sits on the bottom,” Hurst says. “They’re not going to have any way to get grain away. The roads are going to be washed out. The railroads are going to be washed out.”

The Missouri Department of Transportation says Interstate 29 remains closed from the Missouri/Iowa border all the way to St. Joseph.

Hurst says the flood event is worse for farmers than the 2011 flood.

“One of the things that happened this time, which I think is a little unique and really kind of frightening is that this happened without warning,” says Hurst. “In 2011, as bad as that was, the farmers over there had some time to get grain out, to get their machinery to higher ground.”

Hurst thinks most area farmers were able to get their tractors and combines to higher ground but not their grain.

“Particularly soybeans, when they come in contact with water, they swell up. The steel bins that they’re stored in will literally just split along the sides of the bins and just collapse. We’re going to see that happen all up and down that Missouri River bottom,” he says.

Some area farmers will have to wait and see how the flooding problems impact their planting season. Hurst says most of the area affected is crop land – not cattle ground.

Missouri flooding update: road outage list, governor warns of water dangers

March 19, 2019 By Ashley Byrd

There are 104 roads closed because of flooding. Access the entire list here. Also check the MoDOT Traveler Information Map for road closures at traveler.modot.org/map.

MoDOT continues to work with Nebraska and Iowa to provide alternate routes while major roads are closed, including I-29 near Rock Port. Northbound I-29 traffic into Iowa is being detoured at I-35 in Kansas City, where travelers will continue north on I-35 into Iowa.

From Des Moines, travelers will drive west on I-80 and continue onto I-680 to connect back with I-29 near the Council Bluffs/Omaha metro area in Iowa.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has additional marine operations troopers and swift-water rescue equipment in northwest Missouri. The patrol conducted three swift water rescues in Holt County over the weekend and troopers are going house-to-house in Watson, Missouri, after the levee breach on the Nishnabotna River.

Rhonda Wiley, Emergency Management Coordinator for Atchison County says some people are not taking seriously the dangers of moving water. “Part of the problem is from people who are not from this area, that are rerouting through our area. Even though they have had to pass barricades, and pass detour signs. They just keep coming out to where they’re trying to find a way around to get to Nebraska, to get to Omaha.”

Governor Mike Parson urges Missourians to use caution around floodwater as Missouri River levels near cresting at major flood stage in some Missouri communities. Rain will move into the western part of the state tonight through Wednesday morning but is expected to have minimal effect on current river levels.

He cautioned that despite Missouri River crests this week, flooding will remain a hazard well into the spring because of a combination of additional melting now from the north and saturated ground.

According to a press release, the Missouri Emergency Management Agency assisted the city of St. Joseph with recruiting volunteers for sandbagging efforts with the coordination of AmeriCorps St. Louis, Missouri Adventist Community Services, Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, and the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Inmates from the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center have been helping with sandbagging in the northeastern town of Clarksville along the Mississippi River.

In Holt County, a water treatment facility is shut down operations because of flooding. The Salvation Army has provided bottled water to the area.

The governor’s office warns that standing water can carry infectious diseases and hide other hazards, including road damage, glass, and sewage. Storm drains can create an extremely dangerous situation for anyone caught in the current. Avoid walking through floodwater and keep children from playing in it.

Weather Service warns of possible life-threatening storms today

April 3, 2014 By Mike Lear

Most of Missouri will have one round of severe weather to contend with today, that could include tornadoes, damaging winds, hail and flooding. Some of Missouri will have two.

This graphic from the National Weather Service Office in St. Louis shows where the Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma says there is a risk for severe weather today.

National Weather Service Meteorologists say storms today will be life-threatening and are urging Missourians to prepare now for severe weather. Governor Jay Nixon (D) has declared a state of emergency in response to the storms already happening and those to come.

A tornado watch has been issued for 21 counties in southeast and south-central Missouri, for storms that have already prompted a tornado warning in Arkansas this morning. Those storms are anticipated to sweep northeast from southwestern Missouri through the St. Louis area.

These storms could produce large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. Flooding is a possibility locally in southern Missouri, and more so in central and east-central Missouri where heavy rain has already fallen overnight.

Then for this afternoon will come storms that have caused the Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma to say much of central and southern Missouri has a “moderate” risk for severe weather.

This graphic from the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill illustrates the threats of severe weather today.

Today’s threat of tornadoes is the highest the state has been under so far this year, according to Meteorologist Jayson Gosselin with the National Weather Service in St. Louis.

“Unfortunately there will probably be at least one tornado in the state and there could be quite a few,” says Gosselin.

“It looks like it should warm up by this afternoon and get very unstable and a cold front will head from west to east across the state. Out ahead of that and along it we’re expecting thunderstorms that are going to be capable of very large hail, very strong winds as well as tornadoes possible.”

Storms are expected to form in Kansas and Oklahoma before sweeping through the state, first as discrete supercell thunderstorms, which Meteorologist Ryan Cardell with the Weather Service Office in Springfield says are generally the most dangerous.

“They can produce large hail, damaging winds and possibly stronger tornadoes,” says Cardell.

Farther east, storms are expected to gather into a line.

“At that point the threat will switch over to being more of a straight-line wind threat with isolated tornadoes. That will happen early in the evening sometime.”

Flash flood warnings have already been issued in a swath of central and eastern Missouri where rainfall totals have ranged from between 2.5 to more than 3 inches from storms overnight. Gosselin says if more heavy rain does move through, more flash flooding issues are likely.

“Everything is very saturated now,” says Gosselin.

“This is a good time … before the storms have formed … to dust off your emergency plans,” says Cardell. “Make sure that’s all ready so that when the watches do come out you can kind of start heightening your situational awareness to where the storms currently are, if they’ve formed, things like that, so that way you’re kind of ready. When the tornado warning happens you’ve got one foot in place heading into your disaster plan.”

For information for your area, tune in to your Missourinet affiliate station and visit these Weather Service office websites.

In northwest and western Missouri: Kansas City (Pleasant Hill) and on Twitter @NWSKansasCity

In northeast and eastern Missouri: St. Louis and on Twitter @NWSStLouis

In southwest Missouri: Springfield and on Twitter @NWSSpringfield

In southeast Missouri: Paducah, KY and on Twitter @NWSPaducah

Scotland and Clark counties: Davenport, IA and on Twitter @NWSQuadCities

Several rounds of severe storms possible Tuesday through Thursday

April 1, 2014 By Mike Lear

Missouri could experience severe weather several times in the next couple of days.

This graphic shows the chances for general or organized thunderstorms for Tuesday (left image), Wednesday (center image) and Thursday (right image) according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

The National Weather Service says storms today are expected to develop in southwest Missouri before pushing into central and northern Missouri in the afternoon and evening.

“We’re not expecting that to be severe,” says meteorologist Jenny Laflin at the Service’s Pleasant Hill office, “but as we go into the overnight hours we could see some additional development and some strengthening … and that’s where we’d look for severe potential, mainly between midnight and 8 a.m.”

Laflin says storms overnight should be widespread but only a few are likely to become severe, producing large hail. There is a lesser chance of damaging winds.

The greater chance of severe weather begins Wednesday.

“We have a warm front that’s lifting into the area and it’s just going to kind of park over central Missouri,” says Laflin. “We could see strong development across that boundary during the afternoon but our main window for severe weather is during the evening and early overnight hours, expecting large hail, damaging winds and potentially an isolated tornado or two.”

Laflin says the atmosphere Wednesday is predicted to be much like it was Thursday, when one thunderstorm in northwest Missouri produced three tornadoes that damaged several homes and outbuildings.

Meteorologist Ryan Cardell with the Weather Service’s Springfield Office says there will also be a chance of severe weather Thursday, and it will be more focused in the southern half of the state.

“That’s when the main upper-level dynamics are going to come through sweeping the main frontal boundary through the area from the west,” says Cardell. “That is probably going to be the better chance for any higher-end severe weather, like tornadoes.”

Cardell says heavy rainfall in localized areas could result in flooding as well, but severe weather is considered the primary threat.

For information for your area, tune in to your Missourinet affiliate station and visit these NWS pages.

In northwest and western Missouri: Kansas City (Pleasant Hill)

In northeast and eastern Missouri: St. Louis

In southwest Missouri: Springfield

In southeast Missouri: Paducah, KY

Scotland and Clark counties: Davenport, IA

Weather Service: More heavy rain coming to already flooded areas

August 7, 2013 By Mike Lear

The weather forecast holds no relief for areas in southern Missouri that are already experiencing significant flooding.

The National Weather Service in Kansas City offers this graphic laying out its rainfall predictions.

Meteorologist Andy Boxell with the National Weather Service in Springfield looks ahead to a forecast that has rain chances as far out as Tuesday.

“Unfortunately it looks like we’re not done yet. We’ve just seen a tremendous amount of rainfall over the last several days across all of really the southern half of Missouri … looks like as we go through the next couple days we’re going to have a frontal boundary that’s going to begin to push south into the area before stalling out later tonight into tomorrow. With that front in the region it looks like we will see several additional rounds of thunderstorms as we head into the first part of the weekend.

Boxell says when rain does fall, it isn’t likely to be light.

“The atmosphere is about as moist as it can get for this time of year and so things are really primed for heavy to torrential rainfall wherever those individual thunderstorms move overhead. That, combined with the already completely saturated soils and ongoing flooding out there … just not a good situation here.”

He says any rain that comes over the next few weeks will pose a flooding threat.

“The soil’s going to be very saturated so there’s just not going to be a lot of capacity for water to soak into the soil, so any additional thunderstorms we get even next week or the week afterwards, it’s just not going to take that much rain to see renewed flooding concerns.”

National Guard deployed in response to flooding in south Missouri

August 7, 2013 By Mike Lear

Governor Jay Nixon has deployed 50 military policemen with the Missouri National Guard to work with local authorities in flood response in southern Missouri.

The City of Rolla’s Fire and Rescue posted this photo on its Facebook page of flooding over East- and Westbound I-44 at Jerome, MO.

Governor Nixon has spoken to elected officials in Laclede, Miller, Phelps and Pulaski Counties and yesterday declared a state of emergency after heavy rains caused flash flooding and at least one confirmed death in the Waynesville area. That action activated the state Emergency Operations Plan, allowing coordination between state agencies and local jurisdictions.

The Governor has directed the Highway Patrol to keep additional marine operations troopers, a rescue helicopter and associated assets in place until the threat has passed.

Nixon had earlier cancelled a planned roundtable in Waynesville with emergency management officials in light of the continued flood response.

The State Emergency Management Agency is monitoring conditions.

The forecast for the region includes more rain chances through as late as Tuesday.