Flooding in Missouri, March 9 to 31, 2019

Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauge in Brownsville, Nebraska - along the west bank of the Missouri River - reached 45.73 feet on March 16 (preliminarily a new record). The flooding was caused by several rounds of heavy snow across the Northern Plains through the winter months, followed by a rapid warm-up and several days of heavy rain. The Missouri River Basin across the Northern Plains flooded with catastrophic consequences as numerous dams and levees failed. As the water flowed into the Missouri River upstream of Atchison County, the river swelled and ultimately overwhelmed the levees along the river. Most the worst damage occurred near Watson, when a nearby levee failed and inundated the city with several inches of water. Local fields were also submerged, which delayed the growing season in the region, but several roads were washed away across Atchison County, and I-29 from St. Joseph northward to the Iowa/Missouri border was closed until mid May. Note: The dollar valued assigned to this event is likely inaccurate as a full tally of the extent of the physical damages is unknown. The Missouri River remained in flood through the rest of the month, into April.

Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauge in Rulo, Nebraska - along the west bank of the Missouri River - reached 28.14 feet on March 20 (preliminarily a new record). The flooding was caused by several rounds of heavy snow across the Northern Plains through the winter months, followed by a rapid warm-up and several days of heavy rain. The Missouri River Basin across the Northern Plains flooded with catastrophic consequences as numerous dams and levees failed. As the water flowed into the Missouri River upstream of Holt County, the river swelled and ultimately overwhelmed the levees along the river. Most the worst damage occurred near Craig, when a nearby levee failed and inundated the city with several inches of water. Local fields were also submerged, which delayed the growing season in the region. Several roads were washed away across Holt County, and I-29 from St. Joseph northward to the Iowa/Missouri border was closed until mid May. Note: The dollar valued assigned to this event is likely inaccurate as a full tally of the extent of the physical damages is unknown. The Missouri River remained in flood through the rest of the month, into April.

Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauges in Rulo, Brownville, and St. Joseph all hit preliminary records as a result of this flooding. The flooding was caused by several rounds of heavy snow across the Northern Plains through the winter months, followed by a rapid warm-up and several days of heavy rain. The Missouri River Basin across the Northern Plains flooded with catastrophic consequences as numerous dams and levees failed. As the water flowed into the Missouri River upstream of Andrew County, the river swelled and ultimately overwhelmed the levees along the river. Local fields were submerged, which delayed the growing season in the region. I-29 from St. Joseph northward to the Iowa/Missouri border was closed until mid May. Note: The dollar valued assigned to this event is likely inaccurate as a full tally of the extent of the physical damages is unknown. The Missouri River remained in flood through the rest of the month, into April.

Once the Missouri River started flooding on March 9, it remained in flood through the remainder of the month. The gauge in St. Joseph, Missouri reached 32.12 feet on March 22 (preliminarily a new record). The flooding was caused by several rounds of heavy snow across the Northern Plains through the winter months, followed by a rapid warm-up and several days of heavy rain. The Missouri River Basin across the Northern Plains flooded with catastrophic consequences as numerous dams and levees failed. As the water flowed into the Missouri River upstream of Buchanan County, the river swelled and ultimately overwhelmed the levees along the river. About 1,500 residents and 6,000 employees of neighboring businesses were ushered out of the southern end of town, a city official said. Most of the evacuated dwellings were trailer homes interspersed among factories, warehouses and stockyards along a stretch of the riverfront known as the Bottoms.| Local fields were also submerged, which delayed the growing season in the region, but several roads were washed away across Atchison County, and I-29 from St. Joseph northward to the Iowa/Missouri border was closed until mid May. Note: The dollar valued assigned to this event is likely inaccurate as a full tally of the extent of the physical damages is unknown. The Missouri River remained in flood through the rest of the month, into April.

While Platte County escaped much of the devastating flooding that affected portions of Buchanan, Holt and Atchison Counties, the Missouri River still rose to near record levels and impacted portions of Platte County. Most notable was the flooding in Parkville, where the river rose to 35.01 feet. This was a record at the time, but the gauge was only in existence for a short time before the flood, so it's unknown how this ranked historically; however, the upstream gauge in Leavenworth, Kansas reached 31.30 feet (2nd place at the time). Portions of Parkville were flooded, as well as English Landing Park. The river remained in flood into the middle part of May. Note: The dollar value assigned to the damages is likely not accurate, as the full extent of the damage is unknown.