page_title: 2011 Missouri River Flood
section_title: Missouri
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 Missouri River Flood / Flood stages and effects by state / Missouri
caption_attribution_description: English: The 2011 Missouri River floods from Fortescue, Missouri looking toward Big Lake (which is obliterated). The Missouri River is 5+ miles wide. The BNSF railroad which is the main coal line for the Kansas City Iatan powerplant has been breached.
context_page_description: The 2011 Missouri River floods was a flooding event on the Missouri River in the United States. The flooding was triggered by record snowfall in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming along with near-record spring rainfall in central and eastern Montana. All six major dams along the Missouri River released record amounts of water to prevent overflow which led to flooding threatening several towns and cities along the river from Montana to Missouri; in particular Bismarck, North Dakota; Pierre, South Dakota; Dakota Dunes, South Dakota; South Sioux City, Nebraska, Sioux City, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Saint Joseph, Missouri; Kansas City, Missouri; Jefferson City, Missouri, and St. Louis, Missouri. Many smaller towns were also at risk, suffering the same fate as the larger cities if not worse. According to the National Weather Service, in the second half of the month of May 2011, almost a year's worth of rain fell over the upper Missouri River basin. Extremely heavy rainfall in conjunction with an estimated 212 percent of normal snowpack in the Rocky Mountains contributed to this flooding event.
context_section_description: On June 6, the Kansas City Corps of Engineers sent letters from its Real Estate Division to landowners along the river in northwest Missouri, telling them that through the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 via the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project and Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Project that they were seeking willing sellers for land "for fish and wildlife habitat enhancements for aquatic species such as the pallid sturgeon." The letters arrived just as the floods began hitting their peak in Atchison County and subsequently were heavily criticized by state and federal politicians. The Corps reported that only 14 letters had been sent.
  Interstate 29 closed in early June from Iowa Highway 2 (across the Missouri River from Nebraska City, Nebraska) to Rock Port, Missouri.
  The United States Coast Guard closed the river to boaters from Gavins Point Dam (Mile Post 850) to Mile Post 450 near St. Joseph, Missouri.
  Residents of Big Lake (which had evacuated during several floods including one in 2010) evacuated in May. On June 16, 2011, the community filed an injunction in Holt County against BNSF after the railroad elevated its line near the community by 20 inches (510 mm) in preparation for the flood. Big Lake officials said the elevation would create a "bathtub" effect, trapping water in the community.
  On June 19 a levee in Atchison County was breached and the levee protecting Big Lake was breached near Corning, Missouri, at Mile Marker 550. The crest at Brownville at 44.6 feet (13.6 m) was the highest in the history of the river there (breaking the 1993 record). It prompted officials to close the two northernmost Missouri River bridges in the state, the Brownville Bridge (US 136) and the Rulo Bridge (US 159). The river had risen more than two feet in 24 hours in Atchison County. Officials said the surge in the river occurred when heavy rains in northern Iowa caused a major rise in the Nishnabotna River, which enters the Missouri River in Atchison County near Watson.
  On June 21, 300 residents of Craig in Holt County were ordered to evacuate.
  On June 24, Lewis and Clark State Park near Rushville closed.
  On June 26 BNSF had to close its main rail line providing coal to Kansas City's Iatan Powerplant (via Rulo) after the river widened in Holt County to nearly 5+ miles by Big Lake.
  On June 27 Terrible's St. Jo Frontier Casino riverboat casino closed. Levee toppings prompted the closure of Lewis and Clark Village, Missouri. Residents of the Sugar Lake area of Buchanan County were also under voluntary evacuation orders
  On June 28 Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Holt County closed its tour route around its pools noting that it no longer control water levels in its pools and that it expects "critical habitat damage to our management areas including the moist soil units, wet prairie, and other priceless wildlife habitats and most habitats will be submerged."
  On June 28, the Corps ordered Ameren to halt all outflows (including electrical generation) from Bagnell Dam on the Osage River until at least July 5.
  On June 29, officials at Missouri's largest coal-fired power plant at Iatan, Missouri, sent 40 of its 135 employees home because of fears that the river would cut off its access on Missouri Route 45. Employees were parking a mile from the plant being shuttled in.
  On June 30 the St. Joseph News-Press reported that residents of Holt County had dubbed the flood "Corpstrina" (pronounced Kor-TRINA) evoking the Corps of Engineers which regulates the river and the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
  On July 2 Amtrak announced that two miles (3 km) of track between Kansas City and St. Louis was flooded between Myrick (west of Lexington) and Marshall. The railroad suspended the 311 and 316 trains of the Missouri River Runner but continued to maintain other traffic via trains rerouted to the Sedalia subdivision.
  On July 3 a planned fireworks display in Richard Berkley Riverfront Park in Kansas City proceeded as planned and included the unveiling of a new lighting scheme on the Christopher Bond Bridge
caption: Looking toward Rulo and Big Lake (the latter of which is obliterated in the trees) from Fortescue, Missouri, as the River reached a width of more than 5 miles on June 26. The line going across the water is the BNSF rail line which is the main line for providing coal to Kansas City's giant Iatan, Missouri, powerplant. BNSF raised the line 20 inches but it was still overtopped and is closed.
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