Five Feet High and Rising...or How Johnny Cash Got It All Wrong!

The river stage at the Missouri River seven miles west of us is currently 33.62 feet and rising. In three days time the River will be at 36.2 feet which is well past flood stage of 35 feet.

There are six Missouri River dams above us that stretch into several states.

The Oahe Dam at Pierre, South Dakota, is currently releasing a record 85,000 cubic feet of water per second. Flooding is already occurring on the bank areas in the Sioux City area north of us.

The volume will reach 150,000 cubic feet per second next week. When that flow reaches our county there will be major flooding. And since that record release will continue for the next couple months...well....the flooding will continue as well. This is not a happy scenario.

We're hoping our little town of Onawa will remain dry. According to the maps released by the Corps it should. But there will be flooding all around us. Lots of it.


An informational meeting was held this evening at the local school. Too bad they didn't charge a dollar per person...they could have made a bundle. The gymnasium was full. The information was not conducive to happy spirits afterwards. Many farmers attending that meeting can expect their entire farms to be inundated and remain flooded for months. Residents of Blencoe south of us are already clearing their basements and packing up their belongings to evacuate.


I do not know how this summer will turn out. This next week will give us a good idea what to expect the rest of the summer months.

To use the lyrics of Johnny Cash...."How high's the water, Mamma?" Well the answer is, it's an awful lot higher than "five feet high and risin' ".

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