Surveying the Missouri River to avoid another flood in 2019

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Surveying the Missouri River to avoid another flood in 2019

The Army Corps of Engineers is studying how to reduce the risk of flooding for agricultural land along the Missouri River.

Colonel Travis Rayfield, district commander for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Kansas City district, tells Brownfield that Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri are developing a plan to improve the river’s resilience after crops, livestock and businesses were wiped out by the historic flood from 2019 were destroyed. “We will build a large computer model that will study the water levels from Rulo, Nebraska to St. Louis within the Kansas City footprint. These water heights give us an opportunity to find out where things aren’t aligned the way we’d like them to be.”

He tells Brownfield they are conducting several comprehensive studies to reduce recurring damage and improve problem areas. “We will work together on site to review where we would like to conduct a so-called spin-off study to actually implement a structural solution or non-structural solution. Structural importance Make dykes higher or realign them. Nonstructural importance makes wetlands.”

And, he says, they will combine the results of those studies and put them into “a large computer model that will measure the hydrology, or hydraulics — how water moves from point A to St. Louis, and that model will tell us how we move.” move ahead.”

He says it will likely take at least five years to complete the studies before the results are presented to Congress.