Levees no match for Midwest rivers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hundreds of homes flooded in several Midwestern states after rivers breached at least a dozen levees following heavy rain and snowmelt in the region, authorities said Monday. They warned that the flooding was expected to linger.
About 200 miles of levees were compromised — either breached or overtopped — in four states, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. Even in places where the water level peaked in those states — Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas — the current was fast and the water so high that damage continued to pile up. The flooding was blamed for at least three deaths.
“The levees are busted, and we aren’t even into the wet season when the rivers run high,” said Tom Bullock, the emergency management director for Missouri’s Holt County.
He said many homes in a mostly rural area of Holt County were inundated with 6 to 7 feet of water from the swollen Missouri River. He noted that farmers are only a month away from planting corn and soybeans.
“The water isn’t going to be gone, and the levees aren’t going to be fixed this year,” said Bullock, whose own home was now on an island.
One couple was rescued by helicopter after water from three breached levees swept across 40,000 acres, he said. Another nine breaches were confirmed in Nebraska and Iowa counties south of the Platte River, the Corps said.
In Atchison County, Missouri, about 130 people were urged to leave their homes as water levels rose and strained levees, three of which had already been overtopped by water.
“The next four to five days are going to be pretty rough,” said Rhonda Wiley, Atchison County’s emergency management and 911 director.
The Missouri River already crested upstream of Omaha, Nebraska, though hundreds of people remained out of their homes and water continued to pour through busted levees.
“There are no easy fixes to any of this,” said Fremont (Neb.) City Administrator Brian Newton. “We need Mother Nature to decrease the height of the river.”
In southwest Iowa, the Missouri River reached a level in Fremont County that was 2 feet above a record set in 2011. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds warned that flooding will worsen along the Mississippi River as snow melts to the north.
In North Dakota, Fargo was preparing for flooding along the Red River. Mayor Tim Mahoney asked residents to help fill 1 million sandbags.
In Illinois, there was major flooding along the Pecatonica and Rock rivers.
High water was blamed in three deaths in Nebraska, where flooding had crippled part of an Air Force base where the military would coordinate a response to a nuclear attack.
One-third of Offutt Air Force Base is underwater, and about 60 structures have been flooded, said 55th Wing spokesman Ryan Hansen. Offutt’s only runway is partially submerged.
Offutt hosts U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for air defense and the nuclear arsenal. President George W. Bush flew there to coordinate the initial response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
U.S. Strategic Command buildings have not been flooded, said Maj. Meghan Liemburg-archer, a spokeswoman.