Buchanan County Lakes could hold much more water

Missouri River at Lake Contrary (FILE PHOTO)

Rainfall chances are continuing into the weekend but Buchanan County officials said they are not worried about flooding coming from area lakes at this point in time.

County Commissioner Ron Hook said both Lake Contrary and Sugar Lake have seen dry conditions since 2012

“They are holding as much water as they need to as this point. They can definitely take on a lot more,” Hook said. “Probably three or four or five feet more would be very much appreciated by the people that frequent the lakes and live around the lakes.”

Hook said the water is very much appreciated for the lakes.

Since June 1 the National Weather Service is reporting 3.31″ of rainfall has fallen in the St. Joseph area. Normally, we would only have had around 1.62″ at this point in time.

As of 9:30 a.m. the Missouri River at St. Joseph was at 13.16 ft according to the latest USGS observation. Minor flood stage is 17 ft. The river is forecasted to crest at 23.7 ft by Friday night. That would place it in moderate flood stage.

“When it gets up to 19 or 20 feet that’s when it becomes a concern,” Hook said. “What happens then is we have a lot of pumping going on, we have a lot of fields that are being flooded out and farmers are trying to get the water off their fields so they can go in and finish planting or replant what’s been damaged by standing water.”

Hook said the lakes can hold a lot more water, but the concern in the county right now is for farmers and roadways.

“Right now it’s farmers that have water standing in the fields and then low-lying areas. The county has a lot of roads that have water covering it,” Hook said.

Buchanan County Emergency Manager Bill Brinton said all county roads had been opened back up after floodwaters forced parts of several roads to close for several weeks. As of 11 a.m. Thursday Brinton said he was not currently worried about those roads because we’ve had several days of dry conditions. However, with more rain in the forecast this weekend he said the county will continue to monitor roadways and they may have to close routes again.