Governor Jay Nixon made another trip to northwest Missouri Monday for an operational briefing from his flooding task forces.  Nixon, his adjutant general, and the commander of the western Missouri task force agree it will be a long flood fight, but they insist we will win that fight.

Nixon says this will be a long and drawn-out flood, exacerbated by heavy rains Sunday and Monday.  He says before we were fighting a “release flood” out of the upper reservoirs on the Missouri River system, but it’s much more complicated because of the additional rain.

Adjutant General, Major General Stephen Danner,  says this is a local fight to the men and women of the National Guard.

“This is their fight, these are their counties, they want to be in and help their friends and neighbors as badly as anyone,” Danner said, “we’re in this all the way.”

“It’s a long fight, but we’re going to be successful with this.”

Danner says the Guard is there “to protect good people from bad things.”

“Safety and security, patrolling levees, making sure your farm machinery that you’ve put up on the levee remains safe, that your home is safe and secure while you’re away, or, if you’re not in the flood area, you’re using the water, the sewer plant, etc, we’re in there at Governor Nixon’s orders to make sure that we protect those assets as well.”

Col. Greg Mason, commander of Flood Task Force 110 of western Missouri, says the Guard is equipped and ready to protect critical infrastructure, including the water plants in Rock Port, Craig and Forest City.