By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Southern Buchanan County remains vulnerable to flooding, even as the Missouri River level has dropped, because March flooding broke through a levee protecting the area.

Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer says floodwaters have receded after the second round of flooding in late May, yet the broken levee system makes the area prone to flooding even though the level of the Missouri has dropped.

“Even at 22, 23 feet, right in there is where that very southwest portion of Buchanan County down in Lewis and Clark Village and down in that area, which effects (Highway) 59 obviously, that’s a struggle at the height, because of what happened with the levees back in March,” Sawyer tells the KFEQ Hotline during a guest appearance.

The level of the Missouri River has been dropping, yet remains in moderate flood stage. The National Weather Service reports the river dropped to 22.5 feet early Tuesday afternoon. It is expected to edge up to 22.8 feet early Thursday evening, before dropping again.

The Missouri River reached a record height of 32.12 feet on March 22^nd, surpassing the record high level set during the 1993 flood.

Sawyer says it will take some time to fully assess the damage flooding has done to the county, especially southern Buchanan County, around the Lewis and Clark Village area. He says residents of southern Buchanan County have been battered twice now by flooding, adding many have responded with help as floodwaters remain high.

“It’s been a great team effort. When you talk about churches and Red Cross, and other people have helped, but it’s a really tough situation,” Sawyer says. “Now, with those levees that have been breached, we’re just sitting in a vulnerable position down in that area.”

Sawyer says the county was assessing the damage in wake of the March floods when it flooded again in late May. He says federal disaster assistance will help, but it might take as much as two years before the money is released to the county.

The St. Joseph City Council heard public comments during Monday night’s meeting regarding potential city hike and bike trail improvements.

The improvements would be funded only if the city is awarded funds through the Transportation Alternatives Funds Program. The council approved the grant application Monday night. 

St. Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray said the city is submitting the application with a tentative plan for a trail to run from Cook Road to Blackwell Road.

McMurray said during the public comment on the hike and bike trails, one St. Joseph resident was opposed to the possibility of the trail running through his property.

“Trying to balance all the competing interests is what we’re going to be doing down the road, no pun intended, but right now it’s, if we can be awarded this grant going from Cook Road to Blackwell Road, point A to point B, then we’ll have to figure out the details of how we get there.” 

McMurray said the grant is for $200,000, with the city contributing matching funds of almost $86,000. He adds the CIP money will help fund it, which was approved by voters.

Also at Monday night’s meeting, the council passed the $178 million budget for Fiscal Year 2020. The vote was 7 to 2. According to McMurray, one council member voiced concern during the meeting about seven public works employees being removed and McMurray said he wants to point out it was seven overall positions removed.

“We just took two off the Parks crew, two off the Streets crew and half a position out of Water Protection and half a position out of HR and we removed one accountant and we removed one Capital Projects coordinator,” McMurray said. “Several of these positions were vacant, so we didn’t have anyone losing employment as a result of that, we just didn’t fill these positions in the new budget.”

The budget goes into effect July 1st.

To view the entire meeting, click here.

UPDATE: St. Joseph police say Frank Cook has been located and is safe.

St. Joseph police are asking the public to help locate a missing person.

Police say Frank Cook was last seen near 2000 Village Drive.

Cook is described as a white male, wearing a brown and white shirt, blue jeans, and dark tennis shoes.

If you have information that can assist in helping safely locate Frank Cook, please call 911 or contact the St. Joseph Police Department at 816-271-4777.

ANDREW COUNTY— One person was injured in an accident just after 1a.m. Tuesday in Andrew County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2018 Polaris Ranger SP driven by Macray H. Brooks, 20, Savannah, was southbound on County Road 156 three miles north of Savannah. The ATV traveled off the road, returned to the road and overturned.

Andrew County EMS transported Brooks to Mosaic Life Care. The MSHP did not have information on whether he was wearing a helmet.

NODAWAY COUNTY— One person was injured in an accident just after 6:30 p.m. Monday in Nodaway County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol a 2013 Polaris Scrambler ATV driven by Caylor W. Dunbar, 15, Maryville, was westbound on 245th Street just east of Orion Road a mile northeast of Ravenwood.

The driver failed to negotiate a curve, traveled off the road and struck a barbed wire fence.

A private vehicle transported Dunbar to Mosaic in Maryville. He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.