Clean up for Columbia’s parks and trails underway after flooding

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

According to the weather station at the University of Missouri, since July 1, Columbia has seen more than 7 inches of rain and was under multiple flash flood warnings. This flooding damaged several Columbia-area parks and trails from the high amount of rainfall.

The Katy Trail State Park wrote about cleanup efforts Wednesday morning on its social media. Photos on Wednesday morning showed downed trees, flooded gravel roads, as well as a washed out walkway.

Katy Trail Coordinator for the Missouri State Parks Cassie Brandt said that cleanup efforts started last week.

"The rain started on July 3rd, and so obviously the 4th is a holiday, so we had pretty limited staff," Brandt said. "The superintendent for this section of trail went out on the 4th and the 5th, and with his crews and did a lot of clearing right away. And then once this week rolled around, we were able to get in with more staff and more equipment and start kind of the heavier levels of cleanup."

Heavier levels of cleanup include bringing in rock to fill in patches of the trail that were washed away and moving debris. Brandt said it could take a few weeks to get everything assessed, get the rock purchased and transported, and arrange equipment before the Mid-Missouri portion of the trail is back to normal.

Last week, Janet Godon, a planner for Columbia Parks and Recreation, said the cleanup process could take a few days.

"Sometimes we wait. If there's a predicted rain event coming soon like there is tonight, we may wait a day to go out and do cleanup," Godon said. "But places like the MKT, which is a heavily used trail. Those areas have already been cleared, but there are trail areas on the MKT out near forum that are completely underwater that we can't do anything about that until the water recedes."

Check back for updates.