~ KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Heavy rain from an already deadly storm system sent the Missouri River and other Midwest waterways over
their banks Tuesday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and bringing warnings that the region could see flooding
close to the devastation of 1993 ~
~ Newscast ~ Channel 9 Kansas City ~ May 7, 2007 ~
You can't take this walk in the park today... (Monday, May 7, 2007) This bridge and the entire park are underwater
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Rush Creek full to the brim
Yes, the creek is in there, right down the middle
South from the Main Street Bridge
And on to the A-Frame Bridge
A Snake taking a little swim
Wonder what kind that is... Guess you could call it a Water Snake, huh?
Rush Creek just 12 inches under the Main Street bridge now
The South Entrance to the Sullivan Nature Sanctuary... Or is that the Sullivan Swamp?
South by the River to Smith's Point and the A-Frame bridge
Mr Woodchuck, up a tree for now
Not a good choice, a few hours later this was under 5 feet of water
Smith's Point and Rush Creek bank to bank full
The Missouri River just a foot or so from inundating the Point
View from the A-Frame bridge, never looked like this before
The creek, usually about 15 feet below this level... now bank to bank
Smith's Point on the right, almost ready to submerge
Other side of the bridge, looking North and West
The Main Street bridge over Rush Creek in the distance
Back at the Boat Ramp... No long haul now
South of the Boat Ramp... A look back at Smith's Point
Boat Ramp and A-Frame bridge to the right
One last look before heading back... water still rising...
~ Back to the Park at 5 p.m. May 7, 2007 ~
Oh Oh, can't enter the park now... The water now over the Main Street bridge
The bridge, top left and the water creeping up Main Street
Looks like 4 feet or more to flood the ball park on the left
Main Entrance to the picnic area and river trail
Might need a boat to get to the shelter today
No, you can't go wading here
Yeah, that's White Alloe creek coming from the waterfall in the Sanctuary and just a tad deep in there
What say we postpone the picnic a bit?
Back up White Alloe creek a bit, where it enters the park, usually not more than a decent trickle
Channel 9 News, covering the action from the ground and from their copter in the air
And on down Hiway 9 to get a long view of the park
Pulled over on the shoulder for a pic... Parkville cop coming from the other way gave me a mean HONK!
I snapped a couple pics and here he comes from the other way to run me off
But for some reason he made a U-turn and headed back and so did I...
~ Now the Morning of Tuesday, May 8, 2007 ~
A long view to the river, the water now just behind the police car just over the tracks
In the 1993 flood the water would have covered those cars turning the corner there
This is a far as they would let the general public approach
But I walked over and told the Policelady that I wanted to get pictures of the New Sanctuary in the flood and she said OK
And I did, that's the new Sanctuary off to the right
Yesterday at 5 p.m. the police barricade was at this point
I thought I heard on the news this morning the river had crested, but spectators here said it was expected to rise
another 4 feet, possibly more
I climbed up the walk to the Art Gallery for a longer view to the river
But you really couldn't get a good view of the water in the park, the river in the far distance here
So then, back across the tracks to talk with Lewis Jonas, Sanctuary Committee hard worker, who happend to be watching and chatting
He suggested it might be interesting to walk down the tracks and get some pics of the North side of the Sullivan Sanctuary
So I went back to the van, drove a couple blocks down Hiway FF and then hiked across the tracks
This is the North side of the new Sanctuary
And a youth work party was scheduled to work here this weekend but it doesn't look feasable in any way now
And then on back to add these pics to the story... And a few more may be added if the water gets higher...
~ Back One More Time, 10 a.m. May 9, 2007 ~
And the river had crested and the water is on the way down
Some were thinking the water would reach the railroad tracks but almost a block short
And I expected the water level to be higher than this today
You can see that the water is now receding here
The High Water mark in 2007... In the 1993 flood, it was up to the deck on the building across the street
There was extensive damage to downtown buildings in the 1993 flood, but there appears to be none this year
~ End of Another Adventure in Parkville ~
~ And now we Wait for all This to Dry Out ~
(maybe we need a page about the Coal Train wreck in 1999?)
~Email Me!~