The US Fish and Wildlife Service says this is the worst flood in Northwest Missouri since 1952.

Engineer Rick Bennett of MODOT says he’s not surprised. Fifteen bridges in Northwest Missouri are affected by flooding, including seven in the Safe and Sound bridge program.

Bennett says 65 miles of roads are still flooded two and a half months after the Missouri River came out of its banks. The Corps of Engineers says this is the 102^nd day of the flood, the longest flood in the history of the Missouri River Basin.

About a dozen drivers of classic roadsters stopped over in St Joseph Sunday night on their way to a rally in Indiana. They’re members of the national Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Club.

We caught up with the co-chairman of the rally:
[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Cord.mp3|titles=Cord]

We took these photos and video in the parking lot of the Drury Inn.

You can find out more at their Web site at www.acdclub.org

 

Governor Nixon will tour flood damage in Northwest Missouri this morning. He is scheduled to meet with municipal officials in Craig and Watson to talk about flood assistance from the state.

Senior officials from the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Public Safety will be with the Governor. Plans call for the group to be at the Watson Community Building and Fire Station at 9:30 and the Craig Elementary School at 11.

 

The body of 57 year old Lawrence Jones of Agency has been recovered from the Platte River.  He stepped into a hole while trying to cross the river on Saturday. Officials say he was with his two grandchildren on a fishing trip.

The children were rescued by witnesses who threw them a rope. The Missouri State Water Patrol began dragging the river Saturday evening.  The body was found yesterday.  

 

FEMA is opening a Disaster Recovery Center in Saint Joseph this afternoon. At 1 o’clock the center at 4950 Frederick will begin helping flood victims with federal disaster loans from the Small Business Administration and grants from FEMA.

The Disaster Recovery Center will operate from 9 to 6 Monday through Friday and 9 to 1 Saturdays. It will be closed Labor Day weekend, September 3^rd through the 5^th.

Firefighters in St Joseph made quick work of a house fire Friday afternoon, but were not in time to save a pet chihuahua, which perished in the fire.

The fire was reported at about one p.m. at 1520 Fifth Avenue.

Fire crews entered the house through the basement, and checked exterior access to an attic for possible hidden hot spots. The fire produced heavy smoke but the structure of the house remained intact.

The cause of the fire, and the extent of damage are still under investigation.

U.S. Congressman Sam Graves announced Friday that he has organized meetings between federal officials and constituents who have been affected by this summer’s flood.

The meetings will involve representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Small Business Administration (SBA), the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Transportation.

“Atchison and Holt have been hit particularly hard by this year’s flood and there is assistance available,” said Graves. “These meetings will give individuals an opportunity to learn more about the available federal programs and ask questions.”

The meetings will be held on Tuesday, September 6th. The times and locations are:

Atchison County Memorial Building
417 S. Main Street; Rock Port.
10 a.m.

State Theater
510 State Street; Mound City.
2 p.m.

Internet, telephone, cable, cellular and 911 emergency service was restored to the Watson/Hamburg area late Friday.

Atchison County Emergency Management Deputy Director Mark Manchester says a fiber optics line recently exposed by rapidly moving floodwater “washed away” sometime Friday morning.

Emergency management officials turned to the only means of communication left to them: text messages.  Spotty cell phone service made that prospect a dodgy one.

A text at 9:54 a.m. read:  “911, cable, internet, telephones, cellphones out in Watson and South Hamburg.  Cell phones have spotty service.”

That was followed very soon by this “…Fiber optic cable washed away and Rock Port Telephone working diligently on repairs.”

The incident appears to have had little effect except in that specific area of Northwest Missouri and Southwest Iowa.

Manchester says the telephone company anticipated the line would eventually give way, so they’ve been working on a new line, along a drier route. That installation was nearly complete when the existing line washed away, Manchester said.

He says repairs will take several hours, and estimated service would be restored sometime Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Return here for additional details as they become available.

St Joseph Police need your help in their investigation into a fatal shooting Monday night. Authorities hope to speak with the occupants of two cars seen in the area of 214 North 16th the night 28-year-old Brian Ulmer was murdered during an apparent home invasion robbery.

Police hope to speak with the occupants of a white mid-size SUV with tinted windows and a green mid-size 4-door passenger car. Those vehicles were occupied by subjects that investigators want to talk to.

If you have any information about those vehicles and who might have been in them, please call Detective Scott Coates or Detective Paul Gatewood at 816-271-5336 or the TIPS Hotline at 238-TIPS.

Officials say the three black male assailants entered the home at 214 N. 16th with handguns attempting to rob the occupants. Ulmer was shot in the head.

Witnesses described the primary suspect as about 6 feet tall, thin, with a darker complexion. Two others involved in the attempted robbery were described as shorter with average builds.

Police now say three subjects arrested in another home invasion early Tuesday morning were released pending further investigation. In that case, Captain Kevin Castle says officers from the midnight shift went to a call at an apartment building located at 201 S. 10th Street on a citizen’s report of two black males with handguns inside.

Officers observed a subject flee from them once inside the building, and were able to identify an apartment in which they believed the subject had entered. Once inside, they located multiple subjects, Castle said.

Officers also located handguns and what are believed to be narcotics. Three black male subjects were arrested on investigative holds reference the weapons and drug possession cases, and it has not been determined at this time if the two incidents are related.

 

A State Senator wants to do what many Northwest Missouri residents have demanded: sue the federal government for flood damage.

Senator Kurt Schaefer of Columbia says Missouri should not have to pay a 25 percent match back to FEMA to repair flood damage caused by federal decisions. He says those decisions led to deliberately high releases that caused widespread flooding in northwest Missouri.

Schaefer also wants to know more about why the Corps of Engineers blew a levee to flood Missouri and reduce flood pressures on Cairo, Illinois. He has talked with the Attorney General’s office about suing the federal government, and they considering it.