Firefighters respond to 8 water rescues, get 60 calls during Thursday flood response
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Emergency officials confirmed that firefighters responded to eight water rescues involving vehicles on Thursday as flooding affected the area after heavy rain.
During a press conference at 3 p.m. at the Boone County Emergency Operations Center, officials confirmed that they received 60 calls related to flooding on Thursday, which began around 1:30 a.m.
Officials said that calls started to spike around noon for various calls about flooding and outages.
The Columbia Fire Department and Boone County Fire Protection District responded to eight total rescues, four of which they responded together. No injuries were reported in any of the rescues.
"There was a surge, a huge surge of 911 calls, requests for help from people that were trapped in their vehicle or that were at their residence and couldn't escape," Columbia Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said.
Several roads flooded in the area and officials are still keeping an eye on the Hinkson Creek, which was approaching the flood stage, according to readings from the US Geological Survey. A 1:30 p.m. reading showed the creek was at 19.45 feet.
Columbia Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said that the departments were working together due to limited resources and the influx of phone calls that happened around the same time.
"As the incidents continue to surge, we have to make decisions in the emergency operations center and start prioritizing resources because, like I said, we only have a finite amount of resources," said Schaeffer.
One roadway on Highway 40 and off I-70 West was flooded, and emergency personnel had to respond to a stuck vehicle in the road. Both Boone County and the Columbia Fire Department were there, but CFP left shortly after rescue was handled by Boone.
Multiple roads were dealing with high water and flooding:
- East Sexton Road
- Mesa and Gillespie Bridge
- Chapel Hill Road
- W. Nifong Boulevard and Glen Eagle Drive
- S. Route KK and S. Old Mill Creek Road
- Route WW and Old Hawthorne
- US Highway 63 (Paris Road Exit)
- Cowan Drive and Rollins Road
- Old Plank Road and Glasgow Drive
- S. Rangeline Road
Officials did say that water was starting to recede on a number of roads.
On the 4300 block of Mesa Drive, there were multiple residential homes that were flooded, and the damage is still being assessed. Officials reported that one person and one dog were evacuated.
Director of Emergency Management Chris Kelley said officials will be conducting door knocking in flooded residential areas to ensure everyone's safe.
"We'll help with human services for those flood victims, whether they need shelter or they need financial assistance; we'll connect them up with the American Red Cross and the United Way," said Kelley.
Kelley added that the volume of calls led emergency officials to activate the Emergency Operations Center, bringing multiple agencies together to coordinate resources.
"I made the decision to activate the emergency operations center and get my staff and also first response utilities, City of Columbia, Boone County, all in the room so that we could start to strategize because we were worried that we were going to run out of resources with the volume of calls,” Kelley explained.
The Emergency Operations Center brought together representatives from Boone County, the City of Columbia, emergency responders, utilities, the health department and Columbia Public Schools to help manage the response.
Officials said the center allowed agencies to prioritize resources and coordinate responses as calls continued coming in.
"It's critical to have a functioning and healthy emergency management office, which we do, to coordinate all of us, bringing our resources together and using those resources appropriately at the right time," said Schaeffer.
