Locals deal with living in flood zones

Several roads around mid-Missouri remain closed due to flooding in the area.

While that may be an inconvenience for some drivers, some people are dealing with living in flooded areas.

Carl Orazio and his wife, Anne, own a cabin and 150 acres near Cooper’s Landing, an area prone to flooding.

Currently, the road they live on is closed because water is covering it. The Orazios still went to their cabin and said they are used to flooding in the area because their family owned the land through the floods of 1993 and 2011.

They rent out several properties on the same road, and Carl Orazio said their renters do not let the water levels stop them from getting home.

“They will put their canoes at the barn or somewhere and their vehicles over there, and they will canoe up to their driveways, up to their houses. And they’re prepared for that, usually,” he said.

Carl Orazio and his brother have done the same to get to his cabin.

“The driveway floods, and the road to our barn, which you probably saw, floods. And my brother, Paul, and I have had to canoe in here before from the barn in ’93 and ’95 and I think 2011,” he said.

Carl Orazio said the people who work and live in the area are skilled at getting in and out, but the water in the area can rise quickly.

“Years ago, we had a Fourth of July picnic here, I think it was in ’93 or ’95, and we all came in on the road, and by the time the picnic was over, it had, the water went up so high, we had to go out on the Katy Trail, which they had to open,” he said. “Even then, we had to drive through a little bit of water, so it came up pretty quickly. We were surprised.”

He said the water in the area can become dangerous quickly, as well. They have seen someone drive into the Little Bonne Femme Creek.

“Oh, they went underwater and they swam out the window,” he said.

He said when the area does face flooding, such as at Cooper’s Landing, there is a community effort to clean up sediment and any other mess left by the water, and neighbors in the area keep an eye on one another.