The Terribles St Jo Fronteir Casino is surrounded by water along the Missouri River.
Casino officials are going by boat to get essential equipment and computers out of the casino. Residents north of the casino are traveling by boat to get to their homes as well.
A handful of cars in the parking lot were not taken out in time before the water inundated the area. The road to the casino is closed. Heritage Park and the Remington Nature Center are all flooded.
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.
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The Midland Empire Red Cross opened a shelter at Benton high school Monday night.
The shelter opened to accommodate evacuees from Elwood, Wathena and the Lewis and Clark Village.
For those evacuating, the shelter is open as a short term resource until a long term option can be found. Director Kevin Kirby said.
“Hopefully water will go down and they will be able to go back to their homes,” Kirby said. “We will help people make recovery plans as needed and hopefully move then into more comfortable situations than cot’s in Benton’s gymnasium.”
If you are evacuating, Kirby advised to bring personal items such as clothing and any medications. Pets will not be allowed in the shelter and you need to find a temporary home for your pets, Kirby said.
If the need arises for more shelter locations, the Red Cross has the resources available.
Listen to Kirby’s comments by clicking play below:[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Red-Cross.mp3|titles=Kevin Kirby]
Voluntary evacuations were ordered Monday in Elwood and Wathena, Kansas.
“We just sounded the alarms right now,” Elwood Mayor George Mitchell said Monday afternoon.
Elwood officials issued the voluntary evacuation as per the city’s evacuation plan which states when the Missouri River reaches 28 feet, a voluntary evacuation will be announced. At 29 feet, the evacuation became mandatory.
Wathena has a similar plan. The evacuations in Wathena become mandatory if the Missouri River reaches 30 feet at St Joseph.
The Missouri River topped 29 feet early Tuesday morning but was expected to drop below 28 feet sometime Tuesday.
Wathena City Clerk Jim Richardson said the voluntary evacuation was a way to get people to think about what they want to take with them when they leave.
“At the mandatory level there is not going to be enough time to take everything that you want to take at that time,” Richardson said.
The levee protecting Elwood is in good shape.
“We have no problems at this time with the levee at all, anywhere,” Mitchell said.
The levee is living up to its design, Levee Board president Craig Sheppard said.
“We’re wet on the outside and dry on the inside, so it’s pretty successful so far,” Sheppard said.
St Joseph officials have evacuated a building at the City yards located on 3rd street near U.S. Highway 36.
Overnight rainfall has flooded the area, which is not protected by a levee along the Missouri River. A basement wall collapsed and water entered the basement overnight. Operations were moved to the Recycling Center on the Belt Highway, city officials reported.
There is currently no major issue’s with the levee’s protecting Rosecrans and Elwood or St Joseph, Assistant Public Works Director Andrew Clements said.
“When we experience the higher rain amounts, plus the river really wasn’t that far away from our facility anyways, that water really didn’t have a place to go,” Clements said.
The Stockyards expressway also closed after water topped the roadway. Other road closures in St Joseph include northbound Waterworks Road, Ellinger Road and Southbound Highway 759 at Florence and Bluffview.
Sugar Lake is under a voluntary evacuation and city officials advised Rosecrans will be closed until Wednesday for construction work not related to flooding.
Terrible’s Frontier Casino on the northwest side of St Joseph was ecacuated Monday morning.
Officials closed the casino and asked everyone to leave because floodwaters are creeping towards the Casino which lies along the Missouri River.
The Missouri River is expected to rise about another foot to 28.6 feet by Tuesday afternoon in St Joseph.
Not many businesses benefit from flooding, but the Associated Press is reporting fireworks sales in Nebraska may see a boost thanks to roads leading to Missouri closed by flooding.
Local fireworks stands in Nebraska expect business to explode because flooding will prevent people from going across the river into Rock Port Mo. to buy fireworks. Rock Port is known for much cheaper prices and bigger selections.
Interstate 29 remains closed leading into Missouri and Iowa Highway 2 is closed which leads to Nebraska City. All bridges Between St Joseph and Omaha are closed. Brownville, Rulo and Nebraska city all have crossings.
People who typically drive to Rock Port Mo. from Nebraska face another obstacle. It’s illegal to bring fireworks bought in Missouri into Nebraska. The Nebraska Highway Patrol often sets up checkpoints to stop the transportation of fireworks into the state.
There’s no word if they will have checkpoints this year.
Northwest Missouri State University announced Thursday Adam Dorrel, the Bearcat football program’s offensive coordinator and assistant head coach, has been named the team’s 19th head football coach.
Dorrel, succeeds Scott Bostwick who died June 5 after suffering an apparent heart attack at his home. Click play to listen to an interview with Dorrel during Friday’s Dave Riggert Show on ESPN 1550.
[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/AdamDorrel2.mp3|titles=AdamDorrel2]Dorrel, a member of the Bearcat coaching staff since 2004, takes over a program that enters its 96th season three wins shy of 500 (497-388-33) and owns a 46-game regular season winning streak against MIAA opponents. The Bearcats have made the NCAA Division II football playoffs 13 of the last 15 seasons.
Charges were filed Thursday against a woman who allegedly stole from her former employer of St Joseph.
Teri Eileen Amos is in custody and charged with a Class C Felony on a $7,500 cash only bond.
It’s alleged she stole $36,367 from the St Joseph Regional Association of REALTORS, who reported the theft last month after an audit report.
Amos was arrested earlier this month at Wal-Mart for shoplifting. She was also in possession of her neighbors I.D. And credit cards at the time.
