Should we worry about river flooding this week?
With extreme flooding occurring in parts of the southern United States and localized flooding occurring here in mid-Missouri, our waterways are being closely monitored for their flooding potential.
Today I spoke with Mark Fuchs, the Senior Service Hydrologist with the St. Louis National Weather Service office about our chances of seeing any major rivers flooding.
Some parts of mid-Missouri have seen upwards of four inches of accumulating rainfall within the past few days which has kicked off elevated waterways. Mark Fuchs says, however, that river flooding isn’t much of a concern for us right now.
“In general, not really. We are looking at a likelihood of some minor flooding of the Missouri both at Chamois and downstream at Hermann. Upstream, we are looking at crests that are approaching flood stage, but I don’t think anything is actually exceeding flood stage.”
In fact, we haven’t seen much of a flooding concern this spring as a whole.
“You know, oftentimes, if you have a busy year of flooding, May and April are usually the two big months of what’s going on. This March, April, May has been, I wouldn’t say quiet, but it hasn’t been all that busy either. We’ve just had mostly minor flooding with spots here and there maybe touching moderate but certainly nothing approaching major which really is what gets everyone’s attention.”
Just because we aren’t concerned with major river flooding doesn’t mean that minor waterways flooding is not worrisome. Flooding, no matter at what level, can cause danger and damage to those impacted.
