Melissa and I road down that road yesterday!!!I have always had a fascination for the Missouri River and I have floated it from Omaha, NE to St Louis, MO. My business was under water in the West Bottoms in 1951 flood in Kansas City. Some might think it is a weird fascination, but never the less...Yesterday Melissa and I decided to see what the area looked like around Rock Port, MO where they had closed I-29 the day before.
We started our adventure in Parkville, MO where volunteers have been piling sandbags for more than a week.[attachment=14]Flood of 2011 001.JPG[/attachment]This is the boat ramp at English Landing in Parkville, MO. I have docked here when I have come up from Kansas City for lunch. This ramp usually show somes 30 to 40 feet of concrete.[attachment=13]Flood of 2011 004.JPG[/attachment]This is usually a little creek running into the Missouri River and usually the water level would be some 20 foot below this bridge.[attachment=12]Flood of 2011 006.JPG[/attachment]I week or so ago I tried to get into Parkville but couldn't because they were only letting sandbaggers in. This picture is taken from the river looking up main street. This is the wall that is suppose to keep the water out of Parkville.[attachment=11]Flood of 2011 005.JPG[/attachment][attachment=10]Flood of 2011 007.JPG[/attachment]I had never seen this before. In some places they did nothing more than put these metal frames up and cover them with blue tarps. The sandbags at the base just anchor the tarps.[attachment=9]Flood of 2011 008.JPG[/attachment]This is what they looked like when they were finished.[attachment=8]Flood of 2011 009.JPG[/attachment]If you are familiar with Parkville you will know I am taking this picture toward the river and I am standing just behind the railroad tracks just next to where the Power Plant Restaurant use to be. Can you imagine the water getting up this high? Well, it has, several times.
[attachment=7]Flood of 2011 012.JPG[/attachment]From Parkville we took Highway 45 then 59 up the river bottoms past Leavenworth, Lewis and Clark Lake, Weston, Atchison and into St Joseph, MO. We noticed some high water but no flooding to speak of. I am sure the people who lived in these area wouldn't call this flooding 
We got on I-29 in St Joseph, MO and rode on up to Rock Port, MO Where, indeed, I-29 was closed and they forced us to exit. We were hungry so we eat at the Black Iron Grill. There was no shortage of grease, but there were free peanuts on the table. There is just something I really like about be able to throw peanut shells on the floor. 
[attachment=5]Flood of 2011 023.JPG[/attachment]Due east of Rock Port about 10 miles is Brownville, NE. On Fourth of July a few years back, when we were floating the Missouri River from Omaha to Kansas City, we overnighted in Brownville. In the picture you can see some small objects off in the distance. That is a river boat and a floating resort. I wanted to see how they were handling the flood waters. As a rule a boat is not a bad place to be during a flood and that is the case here, except for the fact that the road to get to the boats was under 3 foot of water. 
[attachment=4]Flood of 2011 017.JPG[/attachment]This is the "road" leading to the boats and the sign for the resort.[attachment=3]Flood of 2011 018.JPG[/attachment]I visited with the owner of the river boat. These boats are how he gets to his boats. He said he was fully booked through Labor Day and now the Corps has told him he will not be able to operate for 3 months. He said if they don't give him some kind of relief he will be out of business. [attachment=2]Flood of 2011 013.JPG[/attachment]This was as close as Melissa wanted to get to the water and she would NOT walk on a levee 
[attachment=1]Flood of 2011 020.JPG[/attachment]To get more of an idea of the depth of the water, in this picture there is a stop sign barely showing in the distance on the left side.[attachment=6]Flood of 2011 026.JPG[/attachment]From Brownville, NE we headed back south to Rulo, NE. This picture is taken going west across the bridge. You can see the Catfish Restaurant, where many of us have eaten is almost under water. You can also see the partial construction of the new bridge being built at Rulo. [attachment=0]Flood of 2011 028.JPG[/attachment]We left Rulo and headed back to KC travelling through all the areas that are suppose to flood. I didn't intend to put this on the Romeo website until I had heard on the news tonight that the road we had travelled on yesterday was under water tonight and I thought you might be interested in some of our pictures. In all the areas we traveled the people that the Corps felt needed to be moved were gone. The cars, trucks and everything that could be moved was moved and in many cases the windows were boarded up. It was really sad and these people are just walking around in a daze and are feeling completely helpless. I my opinion this is different than any flood I have ever seen before. The water backing up from the river. Normally we have flash flooding where the run off causes the river to rise and causes the flooding. That is not the case in this flood. This is a man made flood.
