Callaway County leaders survey levee breach, flood-damaged businesses

Commissioners, safety officials and business owners from Callaway County joined engineers from the Capital View Levee District Tuesday morning to survey the damage left behind by a major flood that struck the area in May.

More than a dozen businesses in northern Jefferson City are significantly damaged, such that western district commissioner Roger Fischer says they may not recover.

“It’s not like a contractor that may be able to recover by the end of the year and get those houses built and make the same amount of money,” Fischer said. “Most of these businesses in north Jefferson City, they’re out the money, it’s gone and it’s not recoverable.”

Below are the questions Fischer aims to pose to the Army Corps of Engineers:

Has this event been managed properly? When did National Weather Service, NOA , and the Corps have adequate knowledge? When was data available about basin soil saturation combined with above average snowpack ? Should have Gavin’s Point Reservoir been drained lower through-out winter to absorb the additional snowpack ? Did they have adequate information to predict and prevent this flood? Sign up for email news alerts by clicking here