Water recedes in Mokane; cleanup still a ways away

Caution tape surrounds the single gas station in Mokane. Mokane residents said the gas pumps were completely submerged during the Flood of 1993.
Caution tape surrounds the single gas station in Mokane. Mokane residents said the gas pumps were completely submerged during the Flood of 1993.

MOKANE - Alderman Chad Booher said Thursday the waters of the Missouri River were not in the town anymore, but "it's going to be a couple weeks or so" before cleanup will really begin.

Last week, the Missouri overtopped the levee between it and Mokane in several places, letting water reach all the way up to the corner of Fulton Avenue and Broad Street - high enough to surround the pumps at the Fast Lane gas station, and be several feet deep on one side of the American Veterans Post 153 Mokane just up Broad Street.

Booher said the river had come back up a little bit Wednesday night, but it was still several yards below where it had been at the gas station.

He also said a high spot in the road on Route C was visible, when it had not been before.

The flood had also gone down far enough to be out of the Mokane Bar & Grill on Fulton Avenue, but Booher said he was not sure about any damage there.

He said the AmVets post and the local post office - both of which had been protected with sandbags and further barriers for the AmVets building - made it through OK.

Booher still had concerns about the possibility the river could rise again, with water being released from the Lake of the Ozarks through Bagnell Dam.

That water empties into the Missouri from the Osage River, upstream from Mokane.

The National Weather Service on Thursday forecast the Missouri's levels near Chamois - downstream from Mokane - and near Jefferson City would continue to decrease in the coming days, though the level at Chamois would increase just above an inch from its level on Thursday morning, before beginning to fall today.

With major roads such as Missouri 94 still underwater, Booher said Mokane would need help with cleanup, but having organized dates or locations for people to come help was still at least a couple weeks away.

He said information for cleanup volunteers would be posted on Mokane's Facebook page when it's available. The Facebook page is "City of Mokane Missouri."

A post on the city's page from June 6 thanked volunteers and said people from Mokane, Jefferson City, Columbia, Mexico and other places helped sandbag at the height of the flood.