This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

Listen Live
Donate
MARYVILLE

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

March 19, 2019 |  By: John Coffey

I-29 traffic being diverted due to flooding

(Photo courtesy of mprnews)

The Missouri Departoment of Transportation has closed I-29 at the Highway 71 exit four miles north of St. Joseph due to flooding in Holt and Atchison County. Missouri Highway Patrol Sergeant Jake Angle says the two counties are seeing more of the flood water from Nebraska and Iowa make it's way down stream.

"We've got a lot of water overtopping levees.   There's some breeches in the levees in Atchison and Holt counties.  Of course this is causing interference on Intersate 29.  It was close to the 110 mile marker in Rock Port and that closure is going to be moved back to the 56th mile marker due to water coming over the road at around the 98 mile marker.  So it's going to cause some changes in travel patterns.  We're diverting traffic up 71 Highway, so Maryville is going to see a little bit of influx in traffic."

Angle says he's pleased residents and Holt and Atchison County have taken evacuation orders to heart.  There's been few problems with making sure people are safe from the flooding.

"They've been heeding the warnings.  They've been evacuating prior to the flood waters.  We've had a couple of cases where people have stayed behind.  It wasn't emergency situations, but we were notified that they wanted to be taken away.  We had one late yesterday afternoon down around the Big Lake area and our water patrol division went in there with a boat and got that person out.  Then we had to get a family out of the Corning area.  They requested assistance in getting to dry ground, so we put a boat in there and went in and got them.  Neither one of them was emergency situations, but that's why we have our water division up here, our water patrol division.  These guys have just been on stand-by.  We've got six boats in the area, four more on stand-by, so we're well-prepared and ready to handle any emergency."

MoDot recommends motorists traveling north to Iowa to use I-35 to I-80 as an alternative route.  Other roads in northwest Missouri closed due to flooding:

In Andrew County
Route T
Atchison County
State Route 111 from Highway 159 to I-29
State Route's A, BB, D, E, U, V and Z
U-S Highway 136 from I-29 to the Nebraska State line
U-S 275 from Rock Port to the Iowa State Line
and
U-S 59 at the Big Tarkio River

In Holt County
State Route 111 from Highway 159 to I-29
State Route W from Route 111 to I-29
U-S 159 from Route P to the Nebraska State Line
U-S 59 at the Big Tarkio River