Flooding causes area road closures

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Highway 160 in Lamar was closed due to high water Monday evening.

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

According to Sgt. Kent Casey of the Joplin satellite office of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, many roads and highways in southwest Missouri have been closed due to high waters at various times yesterday and today, as heavy rains continued to inundate the area. Thirty roads were closed in Jasper County, which seemed to be the hardest hit, and at least 17 more roads around southwest Missouri were closed.

A flood warning is in effect for the Little Osage River near Horton until Thursday morning, or until the warning is canceled by the National Weather Service; and for the Marmaton river near Nevada, until late Friday night, or until the warning is canceled. Flood stage for the Little Osage is 41 feet. By 8:45 this morning, it was at 41.7 feet. The Little Osage was expected to rise to 42 feet this evening before receding to below flood stage on Wednesday. Most of this flooding is expected to affect lowlying farmland. Flood stage for the Marmaton River is 20 feet; and as of 8:45 a.m., the Marmaton was at 21.1 feet and was expected to rise to 24.5 feet some time tomorrow before the waters recede to below flood stage sometime Friday, according to a current NWS forecast. At 24 feet, the NWS said, there's a county road west of Nevada that becomes impassable. The NWS will update the warnings and other information if conditions change significantly.

The Missouri Department of Transportation said the largest road affected is U.S. Highway 71 between Carthage and Lamar. North and southbound traffic was diverted on nearby routes. Highway 71 was opened for traffic at 5:45 a.m., Tuesday. In addition, U.S. Highway 43 was closed at Baseline Road in Joplin for a short time but has also since been reopened.

Emergency management offices reported roads partially or fully under water in Barton, Christian, Dade, Dallas, Greene, Lawrence and Polk counties.

In Lawrence County, a mobile home park was evacuated due to flooding.

Vernon County had two closings listed by the Missouri Department of Transportation Tuesday; Route KK from 43 Highway west to Route T, and Route B east from Route NN, east of Bellamy, to Highway 97.

Nevada Public Safety Director Gary Herstein said that no streets in Nevada had been closed so far.

"Most of the activity was south of us," Herstein said. "We had some heavy rain headed our way but it never reached us."

Lori Marble, MoDOT spokeperson, said that the situation is dynamic and roads are being watched carefully to be sure to allow the most movement while maintaining the safety of travelers.

"For now, 71 and 43 are open," Marble said. "It's a dynamic situation and we're getting these warnings from the National Weather Service about storms in the area and we're keeping an eye on things. I hear Joplin's getting hit pretty hard right now and the storm is moving and changing so we just have to adjust as the situation changes."

Marble said the public can find more information about current road closures related to flooding on the department's Web site, http:

//www.modot.mo.gov/ or call 888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636) for the latest information.

"They can go to the Web site. We're updating that whenever information comes in or they can call (888) ASK-MODOT," Marble said.

The NWS warns that heavy rain and flash flooding also could occur and cautions motorists against driving through flowing water. Nearly half of all flood fatalities are vehicle related, and as little as six inches of water may cause the driver to lose control. Two feet of water will carry most vehicles away.

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