Cities along Missouri River hope levees block flood

OMAHA, Neb. -- The scramble is nearly over to fill thousands of sandbags and construct last-minute levees to heights that haven't been needed in decades, but those preparations were only the first round of what's likely to be a summer-long battle against the bloated Missouri River.

Peak flows are expected to arrive early in the week in riverfront communities in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes a gradual increase of releases from dams upstream. The surge through the lower half of the river this week will expose any weaknesses in the flood protections.

"They're going to be as prepared as they can be," said John Benson, spokesman for Iowa's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.

The corps said this summer's Missouri River flooding could rival the record years of 1952 and 1993 in some places.

Officials on Tuesday will increase releases from five of the river's dams to 150,000 cubic feet of water per second -- more than twice the previous record releases.

As a result, the river will rise 5 feet to 7 feet above flood stage in most of Nebraska and Iowa before continuing into Missouri, where it may rise 10 feet above flood stage in several places and flow over the top of at least 11 rural levees.

The record releases from the dams are expected to continue into August, so the river will remain high all summer, interfering with highway and rail traffic in the region. Parts of Interstate 29 have already been closed, and Union Pacific was rerouting some trains around Omaha.

Places in most danger of flooding include the small Iowa towns of Hamburg, Blencoe and Pacific Junction; the Nebraska communities of South Sioux City, Rulo and Plattsmouth; and St. Joseph in Missouri.

"I think there's a 50 percent chance it's going to be ugly. And there's a 50 percent chance we're going to squeak by," said James Gerweck, the emergency manager in southeast Nebraska's Richardson County.

Even if levees hold initially, there are concerns about what will happen as the high flows continue for weeks or months.