Community in Action

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Community: Crisis, Cooperation, Resilience

“There was little talk and plenty of hard work causing sweat to mix with dirt and determination. No one panicked, but everyone felt deep concern knowing what might happen to their town, a scene being played out over and over throughout the Midwest. History has shown that Americans fight back when their backs are against the wall, and this was the case in 1993.”

 

Missouri’s Great Flood of ’93

Kenneth Kieser

 

Rosecrans

Early in the flood of 1993, crews formed at Rosecrans Airport to help sandbag runways and buildings. As they worked, water was already creeping over nearby Highway 36, so they sandbagged five high, hoping it would be enough. Soon after, the nearby levee broke and the entire airport flooded. 

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“The night Rosecrans and Elwood’s levees failed, we were still building on the levee adding sandbag support. Suddenly the water started dropping. We knew something had happened, but we just didn’t know what. We drove up to North St. Joe and it was the same, still flooded on the roads. So we went to Elwood as the sun was rising and found it had turned into a huge lake, all of Elwood, Kansas, was covered with floodwater. The water came in through the busted levee, went around to the airport and then spread across Elwood. Ironically, the water took the same angle it had before the Missouri River was channelized.” 

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-Ed Wildberger, Emergency Management Director for St. Joseph in 1993.

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Waterworks

Community volunteers transported numerous loads of sandbags to the water plant by boat. As the water rose around them, the group worked quickly to build a perimeter around the plant. Unfortunately, groundwater soon began to rise inside the sandbag perimeter and the water plant flooded.

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Water plant personnel were tasked with quickly saving as much equipment inside the plant as possible.

 

“We got help from around the community, including extra pumps from the American Dairy Association and another from the City of Cameron, Missouri. We set up the pumps and thought there was a chance of saving the water plant, but later that night they called back and said the water was rising and out of control. Soon after I got a call on the radio from a worker who said, ‘We are losing the plant.’ So I told them to get out of there.”

– Ed Wildberger, Emergency Management Director for St. Joseph in 1993.

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“They eventually cut a big hole in the roof and started lifting out equipment with a Chinook helicopter. I hauled people back and forth for three of four days. I have no idea how many people I hauled in my boat, but I hauled different personnel everyday, 24 hours a day for two days without sleep. Everybody in the boat was upbeat with strong desires to save the water plant.” –Tim Hatfield, Hatfield Sporting Goods, St. Joseph.

 

Missouri’s Great Flood of ’93

Kenneth Kieser

 

Elwood

 The small community of Elwood, Kansas, lies across the Missouri River from St. Joseph. The town is located in the floodplain and has experienced frequent flooding.  After the 1951 flood, a series of levees were put in place to protect the town.

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In the summer of 1993, the farmland around the town was saturated with water and the river put tremendous pressure on the levees.  On July 25th, the levee North of Elwood was breached and the river consumed Rosecrans Airport and the town of Elwood, Kansas.

 

 

“The second time I brought a boat out, the water was rushing through nearby Elwood, Kansas, in torrents,” said Col. Michael Pankau, commander of the 139th Airlift Wing Group  . “An avionics man was with me to salvage some of the expensive avionics equipment. We decided to portage over some railroad tracks. One of the guys stepped on a railroad tie that was not connected and fell in the water. He disappeared for several seconds in the strong current before popping back up a few feet away. I grabbed his hand and we were able to pull him back over the railroad tracks.”

Missouri’s Great Flood of ’93

Kenneth Kieser

 

 “We watched the flood waters continuing to rise,” said Ed Wildberger, Emergency management Director for St. Joseph, Missouri. “Just before the levee broke, the Mayor of Elwood asked me to help him create an emergency evacuation plan. This included planned routes for high-water escapes. We left a notice on each Elwood home that said, ‘If you hear a siren blow three times or the sheriff’s car announcing immediate evacuation, it’s time to go.’  We could not order people to evacuate, but only suggest.”

 

Missouri’s Great Flood of ’93

Kenneth Kieser

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The Great Sheep Flotilla

Dennis Dodson raised sheep and goats near Big Lake, Missouri. Mr. Dodson’s farm and 600 head of livestock were stranded when floodwaters topped the Holt County levee. For two weeks Dodson boated food to his animals until his neighbors answered his S.O.S. The group formed a flotilla of pontoon boats to ferry the animals to high ground. One boat capsized in the operation, spilling goats and humans into the murky waters. However, in the end, not a hide nor hair was lost.