Officials work to reduce flash flooding
According to Jud Kneuvean, the Emergency Management Chief in the Army Corps of Engineers, June is a high risk month for flooding in Missouri.
“We have to get to at least July before we feel very confident here at the corps of engineers that flood risk is reduced,” he said. “Historically we’ve seen some of our worst flooding in the month of June.”
This risk of flooding has caused Governor Jay Nixon to declare a state of emergency in Missouri, as heavy rains and flash flooding plague the state.
The army corps of engineers has been on high alert for a while now. It controls reservoirs and levees in Missouri that feed into rivers around the state.
It is currently keeping trying to keep the levees from releasing too much water and overflowing the already swollen rivers
“We’re really trying not to make things worse,” he said. “Really that’s part of our job, is to reduce the risk of flooding and we can do that by holding water in our reservoirs.”
Kneuvean said the state of emergency is especially prevalent to southern Missouri, where the terrain is less forgiving to large amounts of rainfall.
“North of Missouri you’re in all these silky loans and soil,” he said. “As you move further south it’s more rocky terrain so if you’re going to get four or five inches down there in some area and a lot of it is just going to amount to run off so the stream systems are more susceptible to flash floods.”
He said people often underestimate the power of water and should never drive through high water that floods the roads, since it is the most dangerous thing to do when the water floods onto the roads.
