Another levee breaks in Howard County
Another levee has been breached by the Missouri River in Howard County.
Bill John, with the Howard County Emergency Management Agency, told ABC 17 News that the levee at Highway Z and Highway 87 was breached shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday.
Law enforcement officers are trying to get people evacuated from the New Franklin area. They are mostly people who had gone back to their homes.
The Missouri Department of Transportation said it would close Highway 5 into New Franklin Saturday as soon as water was covering the road.
The Howard County Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol closed the bridge in Boonville that leads to Franklin and New Franklin shortly before 5 p.m.
New Franklin Police Chief Mike Wise said the town of Franklin is closed. No one is allowed in or out.
Many people evacuated New Franklin Saturday, trying to beat the gush of water coming from the levee breach. Others decided to stay, saying they had nowhere to go or to take their belongings.
Justin Begemann and his family live in New Franklin. They have already evacuated once, but came home yesterday once Highway 5 reopened.
He said they were not evacuating Saturday because they did not think the water would reach their house.
“I’m not concerned. That old lady across the street, she’s in her 90s. She said she wasn’t worried about it so that makes me not worried about it,” he said.
They were watching people trying to leave town, but he said many people are staying.
“For the most part I think people are just staying landlocked, going to ride it out,” Begemann said.
Becky Decker is staying in New Franklin after evacuating Old Franklin.
“We’ve got all of our major stuff out but there’s still lots of stuff in there. And I think everybody’s about the same way,” she said. “The levees have been breaking all around. It hasn’t quite filled up yet, but it’s imminent. It’s going to happen they tell me.”
Decker said she does not think she and her boys will get back home any time soon.
“I talked to the Sheriff’s Office to see when we could go back and they said, ‘ Don’t try to do it yet,” she said.
She has been staying in a family member’s garage.
“We’re going up to use the shower and bathroom up at the house but just kind of hanging out down here out of their way,” she said.
She was not worried the water would reach the garage where they were staying because it does not sit in the floodplain.
