Shell Knob cut off by flooding since March 20

SHELL KNOB, Mo. -- Residents in the Big Bass Bend subdivision here are getting weary.

It isn't because their homes got flooded -- they didn't. But Farm Road 1258 that leads to their homes has been flooded since March 20, making it impassible by cars almost every day since.

"We've had flooding before over the years, but never this bad for this long," said Tee Ramsey, a retired high school counselor. "We've had deep flooding, but it was for like a week, and then it would go down."

Area residents are boating their way to the unflooded part of the road -- a trip that may take 20 minutes or more depending on the wind.

While the need to row can be a pain, resident Bob Kitching said he's most concerned about being cut off from emergency services, like fire or ambulance services.

"In July 4th of 2005 I had a major heart attack," Kitching wrote in a statement for the News-Leader. "If it wasn't for the first responder's ability to get to my house I wouldn't be alive."

An estimated 70 homes are cut off by the flooding, about 30 of which are occupied by year-round residents, Kitching said.

Residents have been living without mail, trash and school bus services.

The residents said they have heard different estimates about how long it may take for the waters to recede.

Jim Sandberg, operations project manager for Table Rock Lake, said with normal and average rainfall, Table Rock could drop about eight feet by June 1.

Sandberg said based on what he's heard about flooding at Big Bass Bend, lake levels would probably have to drop 5 to 6 feet before their road becomes passable.

"There is nothing we can do at this point to drop the lake," Sandberg said. "We can't release the water until we can safely evacuate it without further impacts on people downstream on Taneycomo, Bull Shoals and White River."

Barry County Commissioner Eddie Davison said he has been in contact with the National Guard and the Office of Emergency Management.

"The situation really comes down to this: If at any time folks in the area need to be evacuated, we can evacuate them out. But with water as high as it is, it's just not feasible to do anything with the road.

"Medical evacuation is a great concern," acknowledged Davison, adding that he and his wife are both volunteer first responders. "If a person needs to be evacuated, we have identified a couple of spots where we could land a helicopter."

Davison said residents have asked for some kind of a shuttle service to take them across the flooded area. Although commissioners spoke to the National Guard about that, he said their position was that they would provide emergency assistance, not a shuttle.

Kitching said some residents wondered if there was some way to get an amphibious vehicle to help them, but they heard that was too expensive.

Davison said he wasn't sure if any officials had pursued that option.

Meanwhile, residents rely on one another.

"If it wasn't for Bob and Peggy [Kitching], I'd be in a terrible pickle," Ramsey said. She's relied on their boat rides across the water and car rides into town.

They helped her haul trash away or else it would be piled along the road, she said. They've taken her for groceries.

But she doesn't want to impose on neighbors to take her to a dentist appointment 27 miles away or to run out for medicine when she had an upset stomach in the middle of the night. And she misses church.

"It's really hard on seniors," she said.

Neighbors are helping by rowing one another's children across to get to school. Another will often sit on one side of the flooded area, listening for honking horns on the other side. That's his signal someone needs a boat ride.

But the extra steps they have to take just to do daily functions are growing old.

"It's really a pain in the butt," said resident Julie Finney, as her boat passed by one in which the News-Leader crew was riding. "You just really have to think everything out before you leave the house, and make sure you have everything you need."

Kitching said he does feel sorry for all the people whose homes were flooded. But the situation makes him feel stuck in the middle.

"All I want is a way in and out of here."