Flood On The Way

[creek wader]

Well it's our northerners turn for a disaster. You southern boys have already had floods and some horrible tornadoes.

Now were going to get a flood of biblical proportions. Too much water in the Dakota's and Montana's reservoirs. Some mismanagement by the Corps.,and a horrible under estimate of snow melt. Also, holding water because of the sturgeon and a endangered shore bird, to nest. Is the cause this time, not rain.

Already the" Mighty Mo" is out of it's banks and over levees in parts of South Dakota, Neb. , Kan., Iowa, and Missouri.

Several cities and many counties have already been evacuated. Many more are evacuating , now.

I spent this past weekend moving my daughter and her family into our house, and moving their belongings to various locations.

The small town that she lives in, is having a mass exodus. When I pulled in. I saw moving vans, semi trailers, stock and horse trailers, flatbed trailers, moving containers, pickups and SUV's loaded to the gills. Every storage facility in St. Joseph is already rented. People are renting storage facilities many miles away. This scene is going on up and down the river bottoms for hundreds of miles.

This is going to be a big one and last all summer, into the fall.

The first dam upriver is Gavins Point on the Neb. and S. Dakota border. The record release was in 97', it was a 70,000 cfs. They are already running over 80,000 cfs.

Here's the kicker. Starting next week. The Corps. is going to open the flood gates and run her full bore for 30 days. Maybe longer. Then after that, they are going to run a huge release for sometime.

They estimate that gauge at Atchison, KS will be 4 to 5 feet higher than in 1993, and last for months. That should put the level at my daughter's house's roof line, this time. In most places it will dwarf the flood of 93'.

The insurance agent said it will be this fall or later before they will be able to assess their home's damage, if the home is even still there.

The one blessing that they have, is that this time, they have a warning. So there shouldn't be much loss of life and people can save some of their possessions and livestock.

This "great" flood is inevitable.

[Wayne SW/MO]

So it's going to top the levees in the NW portion? How about I-29 where it runs in what I would call the bottom.

[creek wader]

So it's going to top the levees in the NW portion? How about I-29 where it runs in what I would call the bottom.

I imagine parts of i-29 will go under and be closed for awhile. Some levees will break before they're breached. That will relieve pressure and save some places elsewhere. They've never released this much water before or so for long. It's going to set all new records.

Check out this article on Hamburg, Iowa. Then look it up on a map. It'll give you an idea to what's going to happen to I-29.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/07/us-usa-flooding-plains-idUSTRE75660920110607

It references I-29.

[Gilly]

Our family has a family retreat in Mondamin Ia. We are on a levee so we're hoping to escape water damage. At 150,000 cfs out of the dams it will be close. The biggest problem we face is power. The substation feeding us is projected to be under 6' of water so they are removing it. Just great. No electricity for as long as the flooding continues. I'm worried about the dang looters. We removed our valuables but moved/left the furniture on the second floor. No insurance as we are in a 100 year flood plain. Never has flooded there but this one is going to be a doozy they predict.

The whole mess doesn't make make sense. Total bad call on behalf of the Corp of Engineers.

Maybe this is the shovel ready stimulas the Potus was looking for?? There sure has been a flurry of activity building levees, etc.

[woodman]

Some mismanagement by the Corps.,and a horrible under estimate of snow melt. Also, holding water because of the sturgeon and a endangered shore bird, to nest. Is the cause this time, not rain.

I helped do some sand bagging in Parkville and Riverside in 93...They were pumping water out of the old down-town airport back then..if that goes North Kansas City goes..

Between FEMA and the Corps. way to many screw ups to be accidents-mismanagement-over site-what ever excuse...that is a diversional tactic to a new style of (eminant domain) on a grand scale...Then they run you through endless beaucratic hoops to rebuid.. Look at Joplin FEMA is complicating efforts of volunteers coming from all over the country. Government red tape is taking up time away from cleanup in exchange for permits and other permissions needed.

The new Government Take-Over of farm land by blowing levees...

[Wayne SW/MO]

The problems with the levees are starting to surface. The '51 flood had a higher discharge, but lower crest than in '93. The levees don't allow the water to spread, but by keeping it channeled it creates a fuller bucket, and if it leaks or unloads the damage is looking to be worse.

[Gilly]

We had a survey sent to us several years back. I don't recall exactly what all of the questions were but The Corp wanted to know if we were willing to sell the property. They were developing a river valley program for certain stretches of the river. I am definitely a conspiracy theorist when it comes to the government, could this be the enactment of that plan? Just saying.....

[Wayne SW/MO]

I doubt it, probably an admission by the corp that they're between a rock and a hard place. Thy have own up to the environmentalist, the farmers, the home owners and the power companies. They have do it in spite of Mother Nature and they don't call it Father Nature for a good reason.

They should have stuck with channel management and a few dams to control minor flooding and let the rest alone.

[Al Agnew]

Guys, I've been keeping up with what's happening in Montana, and I don't see this as a big screw-up by the Corps. They knew the snowpack was above normal, but what they didn't and couldn't predict is that the weather up there would be unseasonably cool and snowy all spring. It's STILL snowing regularly in the high country. So the snowpack, which looked to be big but manageable in April, has just kept growing.

And why would the government want to buy up river bottom property, EXCEPT to remove people out of places that they KNOW they can't completely protect? It costs the government (us the taxpayers) a heck of a lot of money to do everything from try to maintain levees under threat to rescue people too stupid to move out when the flood is imminent to rebuild after the flood is over, not to mention build and maintain flood control structures in the first place.

[eric1978]

Guys, I've been keeping up with what's happening in Montana, and I don't see this as a big screw-up by the Corps. They knew the snowpack was above normal, but what they didn't and couldn't predict is that the weather up there would be unseasonably cool and snowy all spring. It's STILL snowing regularly in the high country. So the snowpack, which looked to be big but manageable in April, has just kept growing.

A couple days ago I saw that it was 102 degrees in Minneapolis and 54 in Billings. Weird wild stuff.