Months of relentless flooding push Missouri River dwellers to the brink
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The never-ending flood
A video chronicle of the events and the stories of survivors of this year’s catastrophic flooding along the Missouri River.
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A dam breaks in Nebraska and Missouri is flooded for eight months
River flooding is often described as a slow-motion disaster. For some along the Missouri River, lingering floodwaters have made it seem like time has stopped altogether.
In early 2019, record precipitation across the Missouri River Basin caused record flooding in five states.
A “bomb cyclone” in March contributed to the collapse of the Spencer Dam on the Niobrara River, a tributary of the Missouri in northern Nebraska. The resulting torrent rapidly raised the water level in Lewis and Clark Lake, behind Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, South Dakota. To keep Gavins Point, a major piece in the Missouri River’s flood control system, from failing, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ratcheted up water releases into the Missouri’s Lower Basin.
Within two weeks, virtually every levee between Council Bluffs and Kansas City had failed or been overtopped, crippling the region for the rest of the spring and summer flood season. Relentless flooding became a regular occurrence along some parts of the river.
Citizens paid the price in lost crops; homes and property; access to drinking water and other basics for living. Worst of all, people died.
The flood of 2019 is still with Missouri and Nebraska residents. Days have turned into weeks, weeks into months. The river is still high and levees are still broken.
As of mid-November, the river at St. Joseph had yet to drop below the flood stage it exceeded on March 13, on its way to an all-time record high of 32.12 feet on March 22, according to National Weather Service data. The previous record crest of 32.07 feet came with catastrophic flooding in 1993.
The Corps of Engineers is in a race with Mother Nature to complete repairs before next spring. Another extremely wet winter could spell disaster.
Xian Chiang-Waren contributed to this report.
Watch the video stories below.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREAbout this series
The visual journalists of The Kansas City Star were on the scene with cameras when flooding started along the Missouri River last March. They have been out every month since then capturing stunning images along the river and gathering the stories of people impacted by the months-long flood. The result is this two-part series that showcases a collection of video stories that take us into the conflicts brought about by attempts to control the flooding and the hardships that ensue when the flooding is out of control.
Executive producers: Chris Ochsner, Todd Feeback
Producers: Todd Feeback, Xian Chiang-Waren
Videographers: Tammy Ljungblad, Rich Sugg, Jill Toyoshiba, James Wooldridge, Xian Chiang-Waren
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 5:00 AM.