Levee breach in Glasgow limits first responder access
The Glasgow Fire District posted on its Facebook page Thursday a levee in the area has breached.
According to the Facebook post, the fire department can no longer access citizens in or above the flood plain east of Highway P.
Several departments including Saline County 911, Glasgow Fire Department, and the Slater Fire Department are providing aid in the area.
County Road 240 west of Glasgow was shut down due to flooding, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation traveler map.
The Glasgow Police Department said several people evacuated before the breach, and were able to get most of their belongings.
Officials are also anticipating a different levee in Howard County will breach at any time in Petersburg.
Residents and farmers were laying sand bags Thursday. Steve Shipp has been laying sand bags for days. He said he came off of the levee at 2 a.m. on Thursday and started getting calls around 5 a.m. to help again.
He said farmers are the ones who will be most affected if the levee breaches, and are a lot of the people trying to help.
“A lot of good neighbors and a lot of farmers. Mostly the farmers, but we couldn’t do it without good neighbor support,” he said.
His family has owned farm land in the area in danger of flooding since his great-grandfather.
According to the Howard County Office of Emergency management, the levee breach in Glasgow relived some of the pressure at the levee in Petersburg. Shipp said they did notice the water go down slightly.
The Corps of Engineers predicts the levee in Petersburg will be back to the higher level by midnight.
“It’s at the point that really it’s hard to say if they’re going to be able to save it or not,” said Bill John from the office of emergency management.
The office has alerted people who live in areas in danger of flooding to be ready to evacuate, but all evacuations have been voluntary. Shipp says after the flood of 1993 much of the land in the flood area was bought out, and almost everything else is farmland.
Check back for updates on this continuing story.
