Guard warns citizens that flood could last for months

State emergency officials are expecting Missouri River flooding to move across the state in the coming months.

The Missouri National Guard is warning residents along the swollen river if flooding starts to go down, it’s no sign the flood fight is letting up.

The Guard has more than 200 citizen soldiers working with local agencies in flooded areas, protecting abandoned property and even flying Blackhawk mission to drop sandbags.

The Missouri National Guard’s director of plans and operations, Colonel David Boyle, says river stage forecasts can be deceiving.

“This fight will expand as it expands from northwest Missouri across to the lower Missouri all the way over to Saint Charles,” Boyle said. “ It also will ebb and flow, so whatever fights we’re in today- say it’s overtopping today, sometime in the future we’ll probably be revisiting that same fight with a breech or some kind of a failure or some kind of other problem. Or if it goes down we’ll revisit with overtopping again.”

The Guard is also using more than 30 Hum-V’s in northwest Missouri’s flood areas and 11,000 Guard soldiers are available to state officials to help during the next two months.

Flood waters from the Missouri River are not expected to cause additional flooding on the Mississippi in Southeast Missouri. However, the Army Corps of Engineers cautions that a rising Ohio River may cause a bump in river levels south of Cairo.

Kirk Wayman, KXCV with Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Flood fight continues in NW Missouri

ST. JOSEPH, MO (KXCV) - More than 2 hundred Missouri National Guard and Air Guard Soldiers are now fighting the flooding Missouri River.

Monday at Rosencrans Air Base near St. Joseph, Governor Jay Nixon got an extensive briefing from the Guard and heard the Missouri will rise even higher throughout this week.

"The bottom line is the purpose is to say to everybody across the Show-Me State, all the way from that Nebraska-Iowa border all the way to the Illinois-Missouri border, we are standing up flood fighting operations, we are standing with the locals," Nixon said. "We expect to continue to be in this operation for many, many weeks."

After the operational briefing by the Guard, Nixon flew in a Blackhawk helicopter over extreme northwest Missouri to survey the flooding from the air.

At the same time he took off from the base, a town about three minutes away issued a voluntary evacuation order for its residents.

Kirk Wayman, KXCV

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Nixon: State is prepared for Missouri River flooding

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - Governor Jay Nixon says the state of Missouri is well prepared for a surge of water that's heading down the Missouri River.

The Missouri National Guard is working with local communities on flood preparation.

The floods are driven by record releases from five reservoirs near the Missouri's headwaters.

In the past, Governor Nixon has criticized releases from the dams, especially those that are scheduled every spring to help with the breeding of an endangered fish.

But the water is coming, he said today, and his role as executive in chief is to get ready for it.

"Our focus is on making sure that we are keeping life and property safe, making sure communities are prepared, and being a strong lifeline to help them rebuild afterward," Nixon said.

A Corps spokesman says the agency delayed the release for as long as possible help ease flooding earlier this month along the Mississippi River downstream.

Rachel Lippmann, St. Louis Public Radio

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Levee ruptures in Butler County

POPLAR BLUFF, MO (KRCU) - Residents of rural Butler County, Missouri are fleeing to higher ground after a rupture on the Black River levee. The breakage occurred just south of the community of Poplar Bluff.

The levee failure is spilling floodwater across agricultural lands and farm houses in this rural southern Missouri County. Missouri National Guard troops and the Butler County Sheriff’s Department are evacuating all residents in the floodwater’s path.

Poplar Bluff deputy police chief Jeff Rolland says that rupture is easing tension on the fragile Black River levee that threatens the community. But he cautions that the town could still be in danger.

"That levee is so saturated with water that it is still very unstable. Any more torrential downpours could cause it issues also," Rolland said.

Residents in low-laying neighborhoods were evacuated yesterday. More severe thunderstorms are in the forecast.

The Missouri National Guard and the Butler County Sheriff’s Department have rescued 25 people in this rural agricultural area about 150 miles southwest of St. Louis.

At least 300 people are using a Red Cross shelter following a mandatory evacuation of Poplar Bluff’s low-lying neighborhoods.

Detective Scottie Phelps says the breach has temporarily improved conditions in the community.

"Here in town it’s not too bad," Phelps said. "There’s still some standing water but it’s not too bad. You can pretty much get around town. And like I said, that goes back to the levee break. Whenever that broke, it relieved a lot of the water here in town."

The National Weather Service is forecasting more rain for southern Missouri this evening, which would add additional pressure to the already fragile levee protecting Poplar Bluff from the river.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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