Major flooding on stretches of the Missouri River from Nebraska and Iowa through Kansas and Missouri resulted in several breached levees and significant damage to cities, towns, and farmland in March. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the threat of even more flooding isnt over yet.
According to NOAAs spring flood outlook, flood risks will remain significantly high for the duration of spring. And not just in the Missouri River basin.
Heres what the report has to say about three of Kansas major waterways.
Missouri River Basin: Major Flood Risk
Flooding in the upper Missouri River basin, which includes parts of northeast Kansas, has already broken records this year.
Meteorologists at NOAA say a number of unusual circumstances added up to a major problem.
It started with a large amount of late spring snow in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Then rapid snowmelt and a bomb cyclone dropped even more water on already saturated or still frozen ground.
It was like falling on a paved street, said meteorologist Bob Holmes. It had nowhere to infiltrate, there was no natural infiltration, and so every bit of that ran off.
Additional spring rain and melting snow will prolong or expand the flooding that is already happening.
The outlook predicts that the Missouri River from Kansas City to the Kansas-Nebraska border has greater than a 50 percent chance of major flooding this spring. Major meaning flooding that causes extensive inundation of buildings and roads and prompts large scale evacuations.
Kansas River Basin: Moderate Flood Risk
The areas that feed into the Kansas River basin do not have nearly as much extra snowpack as the feeders of the Missouri River basin. The greatest risk in the Kansas River basin instead lies with the chance of greater than normal rainfall falling on saturated ground.
Thats one of the reasons why NOAAs spring flood outlook only puts the Kansas River basin at risk for moderate flooding flooding with some inundation of buildings and roads, but less cause for evacuations.
