Jefferson City levee breached
The Jefferson City Police Department is warning people to avoid North Jefferson City after a levee broke Thursday.
The department posted on its Facebook page that a levee broke in the area north of the Missouri River.
Capitol View Drainage District officer Britt Smith said a temporary repair to a breach in the levee’s western section failed at about 3 p.m. Thursday. Crews with the city, the Missouri Department of Transportation and Capital Sand Company were working to repair the new breach, staging in the Cedar Drive area, Smith said. They were able to repair the levee in around 3 hours.
“With the assistance of MoDOT, we had our city trucks hauling, MoDOT provided five trucks. Those guys were constantly bringing rock. It turned out to be a very fast repair and was very tenuous at times,” Smith said.
Smith said the department will keep an eye on the levee.
“As you might remember the Capital View Levee is really only rated for 30 feet. And we’re at, last I looked, almost 31 feet. So right now we believe that we have it sealed off and it’s holding, but we’re going to continue to monitor it because we are at the very top of that levee,” he said.
Jefferson City police in a news release said the breach poses no risk to highways 54 and 63.
Recent historic flooding on the Missouri River breached the levee in several places. The river had fallen below major flood stage last week but this week began rising again. The flooding at its height inundated parts of Jefferson City, closing several streets and covering the airport, which is located in North Jefferson City.
It was expected to crest just below major flood stage late Thursday or early Friday.
Look for more on this developing story.
VIDEO: More on previous Capitol View Levee failures
