Jefferson City coming up for air as floodwaters recede

The water in and around the Jefferson City Memorial Airport has receded just enough to allow workers in the office and hangars of Jefferson City Flying Service to begin cleanup after the flood. Gary Baitinger, of JCFS, uses a hammer and crowbar Monday to remove drywall from office space in their building adjacent to the airport's tarmac. The muddy water of the Missouri River has left behind a brown residue on walls, cabinets and anything else within the 3-4 feet depth range.
The water in and around the Jefferson City Memorial Airport has receded just enough to allow workers in the office and hangars of Jefferson City Flying Service to begin cleanup after the flood. Gary Baitinger, of JCFS, uses a hammer and crowbar Monday to remove drywall from office space in their building adjacent to the airport's tarmac. The muddy water of the Missouri River has left behind a brown residue on walls, cabinets and anything else within the 3-4 feet depth range.

The Missouri River continues its slow recession in Jefferson City. As of Monday afternoon, it was at 28 feet, 2 feet lower than where it was Friday, according to reports from the National Weather Service in St. Louis.

As the river goes down, more and more is exposed that had been under water for several weeks. Jefferson City Operations Director Britt Smith said they have begun the damage assessment process in North Jefferson City.

"We have found some significant damage at the intersection of Hibernia and Mokane Roads which will need to be addressed," Smith said. "Airport Road is dry most of the way to the Jefferson City Memorial Airport terminal building parking lot. Some of the tenants have been cleaning their hangars. Part of the main runway is out of the water, but all the taxiways are still covered."

Smith said they had 6 inches to a foot of water is some areas of the Jefferson City Memorial Airport hangars. Cleanup crews used power washers to get mud and debris out of the hangars

"We did some damage assessments on Monday to get the contractors out their to see what they would have to be repairing because we will have to get bids," Smith said.

Smith added much of North Jefferson City west of U.S. 63 is still under water so they can't tell much about that side yet, but he hopes to be able to soon as the water continues to goes down.

Todd Spalding, Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry director, said the department has done some cleanup of facilities that were affected by floodwaters in Washington Park, but it will be several days before they can do assessments of the ballfields in North Jefferson City.

The floodwaters breached the Capital View levee around May 24 and created a 30-to 40-foot gap, leading to flooding at the Jefferson City Memorial Airport and throughout North Jefferson City - the former Cedar City.

Many downtown state and city parking lots that were closed due to flooding are now open, Jefferson City Public Works Department Director Matt Morasch told the Jefferson City Council on Monday.

The city established additional transit routes for state office workers after floodwaters closed the parking lots. The routes ran from Capital Mall and the lower Missouri State Penitentiary parking lot.

This shuttle service is now closed, Morasch said.

As of Monday afternoon, the Missouri Department of Transportation was still reporting Missouri 94 in Callaway County, Missouri 100 in Osage County and Missouri 179 in Moniteau County as closed due to high water, as was Route W in Cole County.

During a conference call with members of the media on Monday afternoon, Scott Dummer, with the National Weather Service, said there were no locations along the Missouri River in the Show Me State that were at major flood stage. However, with 2-3 inches of rain predicted to fall over much of the Missouri River Basin this week, Dummer said they expect the levels on the Missouri to rise 1-2 feet within the next nine to 10 days.

Also on Monday, John Remus, who oversees water management for the Corps of Engineers reservoirs along the Missouri River, said they still plan to keep discharges from the southern most reservoir on the northern section of the Missouri, Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota, at 75,000 cubic feet per second for the next three weeks.

On the Osage River, Remus said they may have to make adjustments with the rain in the forecast, but as of Monday afternoon, they had reduced discharges from Truman Dam at Warsaw to 50,000 cfs, compared to 60,000 cfs on Friday. Farther down river at Bagnell Dam, Ameren Missouri cut it's discharges from 60,000 cfs to 49,000 cfs.

Additional weather resources:

Eastern Missouri river stages

Western Missouri river stages

Mid-Missouri forecast, radar

Ameren's Truman and Bagnall Dam daily report

Missouri state highway road closings