The Missouri River at St Joseph reached 29.62 feet Tuesday afternoon. The river is expected to drop about a foot and level off by Thursday.
US-59 highway, and the Amelia Earhart Bridge at Atchsion, have been closed by high water overtopping a levee near Winthrop. (Click Here) That leaves just two Missouri River bridges between KC and IA: in Leavenworth and St Joseph. Tuesday morning, traffic was heavy at Leavenworth, but it appeared to be a normal morning commute on US-36 in St Joe.
Evacuations were ordered Monday in Elwood and Wathena, Kansas. Those evacuations remain voluntary at this time.
Evacuations were also ordered in the Sugar Lake area and in Lewis & Clark Village.
In St Joseph, Heritage Park Softball Complex, and St Joe Frontier Casino were closed because of high water.
Rosecrans Airport was closed Tuesday for scheduled construction that had nothing to do with river levels.
The American Red Cross opened a shelter for evacuees at Benton High School in St Joseph. (Click Here)
The City Yards, located at 2316 South 3rd, were vacated due to a basement wall collapse, with water entering the basement. Operations have been relocated to the recycling center. The phone numbers have stayed the same.
Residents are asked to please refrain from sightseeing in the affected flooding areas. The large volume of traffic, along with the safety risk of rising waters, is creating a potentially dangerous situation for motorists and residents.
Holt County reported a new levee breach yesterday in the Forest City area. The 60 ft breach occurred on Cannon Ditch near it’s connection with Kimsey Creek. The area affected includes mostly farm land west of Forest City toward the Bob Brown Conservation Area and then northward toward Napier.
In Holt County, about 120,000 acres of farmland are underwater. That’s nearly double last year. Over 50 county roads are underwater with over 100 miles of roadway affected and 800 home structures are impacted. Of those homes about 350 belong to Big Lake residents as secondary recreation homes – the remaining 450 or so are permanent residential homes from Corning to the Forest City bottoms. Over 481 people are displaced in Corning, Craig, Big Lake, Bigelow and Fortescue. Another 150 people are displaced in the rural areas around those communities.
Only two persons have chosen to stay in the Red Cross Shelter in Mound City, which means that 629 others have found shelter on their own.
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Late Thursday, a breach north of the Brownville Bridge added to the urgency of evacuations ordered west of I-29 in Atchison County.
Evacuations are urged in Langdon, Watson, Phelps City and Nishnabotna.
Releases at Gavins Point reached 160,000 cubic feet per second Thursday. The Army Corps of Engineers expects to continue that level through at least August, unless additional rain events prompt increases.
Holt County: Bigelow and Fortescue are now under evacuation orders. Officials fear a perfect storm of rising Missouri River levels and possible problems along the Little Tarkio Creek. Big Lake state park is closed and Big Lake Village has been evacuated. There are no access roads open to the village. (Click here for more)
The City of St Joseph has closed Riverfront Park downtown. The city released its planning for possible evacuations in the face of rising floodwaters. Find out more here.
BNSF Crews raised the tracks near Big Lake. We have details here.
Buchanan County deputies will man road blocks starting Wednesday June 15th in an effort to keep Lakefront Lane closed and sightseers off the south side levee at Lake Contrary. (Click here for more)
There are no plans for the Army Corps of Engineers to blow-up any levee in the area and it is not likely that any plans will surface. The water-plant in St Joseph is NOT threatened by flooding. The levee sponsor in Atchison County is planning a partial breach downstream of a full breach on the L-575 levee.
Evacuations are now mandatory north of the Nishnabotna River in Atchison County after water began overtopping the levee at Watson, Missouri. A flash flood warning is in effect for all areas west of I-29 in Atchison County. (Click here for more)
On the south side, voluntary evacuations begin when the river reaches 30 feet for residents and businesses west of King Hill/Lake Avenue/US-59 highway, from Joseph Street on the south to East Lake Boulevard and Florence Road to the north. A staging area will be set up at Hyde Park. Evacuation routes will include King Hill Avenue and Alabama Street.