Local officials urge change in how Corps of Engineers manages Missouri River in wake of devastating flooding

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Floodwaters surround a grain elevator in Hamburg, Iowa.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials came under heavy criticism for its management of the Missouri River during a US Senate hearing held in Iowa today.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst, who farms near Tarkio, attended the meeting and says the Corps is always careful how it answers questions about its river management, saying it follows the 2004 Missouri River Master Manual. Hurst says the follow-up question is: does the manual need to be changed?

“The mayor of Hamburg was there and a couple of people; one person from Iowa, a lawyer who represents the levee districts and then a farmer from just north of where I live in Fremont County, Iowa and all of us said, yeah we’ve got to do that,” Hurst tells St. Joseph Post. “So, yes, absolutely it was recommended by all of us.”

Widespread flooding along the Missouri River this year has caused at least $3 billion in damage. Nebraska, hit hard when an upstream dam failed on the Niobrara River, reported $1.4 billion in damage to the federal government while Iowa reported $1.6 billion. Missouri has yet to deliver its official damage estimate to the federal government, not has Kansas.

The United States Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held an official hearing at Glenwood, Iowa, just outside Omaha, very close to where the Missouri River left its banks and swamped much of southwest Iowa, shutting down Interstate 29.

The Corps of Engineers has come under harsh criticism for its management of extra water coming into the Missouri River basin, but Corps officials say they handled excess water as best they could under the circumstances. Much of the extra water came in below the six upstream Missouri River dams used to control flows into the Missouri River.

Missouri officials have been hesitant to heap too much criticism on the Omaha and Kanas City Corps of Engineers offices, stating the offices are guided by that Missouri River Master Manual revised in 2004.

Hurst says Washington seems to finally be getting the message that something must change on management of the Missouri River.

“Yeah, I think we’re making progress,” Hurst says. “It’s a shame it’s taken so much loss to get to where we are, but we are making progress.”