http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-971646.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – Enormous amounts of water are pouring into reservoirs up stream on the Missouri River basin, in Montana and the Dakotas.
"Second highest monthly total from 1898 to 2011," says Col. "Bob" Ruch, Commander of the Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District. "Exceeded only in 1952.", he says.
That year Kansas City, and upstream river communities, suffered serious flooding. Those reservoirs are stalling the deluge, but they're filling up. So, over the next week, the Corps will almost double the already high flows thundering out of the dams.
That should start to hit the Kansas City area in mid-June, but Ruch doesn't expect massive problems this side of Rulo Nebraska.
The Corps is building up levies to contain all that water. It has 10 million sandbags, with million and a half being loaded on to trucks now.
"We're getting supplies from Morgan City, LA, and other cities across the country. This is a national effort." says Ruch.
Ruch He expects spot flooding, but no deaths, as long as the weather holds, and people living near the river don't take any silly chances.
