NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) – The bloated Missouri River is complicating travel along Interstate 29 in Iowa. State officials have already closed a section of I-29 north of Council Bluffs, and they are preparing to close another stretch of the interstate near Hamburg in southwest Iowa because of floodwaters encroaching on the highway.

Gary and Veronica Andrews of Ocala, Fla., were on a trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming when they spotted what appeared to be a giant lake pressing up against I-29. The couple pulled off the interstate about 9 miles north of Hamburg at Nebraska City for a restroom break. But every gas station, restaurant and motel along the interstate was closed and surrounded by sandbags and dirt levees.

Gary Andrews says the stop was quite an experience.

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) – Iowa officials have delayed the closure of a stretch of Interstate 29 in southwest Iowa. The Iowa Department of Transportation said in a news release today (Wednesday), that the portion south of Exit 10 could close at any moment. The department says the planned closure was delayed because the Missouri River floodwater rise has slowed. The department says it won’t issue a warning when the roadway does close. Motorists are being urged to avoid the area.

Exit 10 is where Iowa Highway 2 runs west across the river to Nebraska. The planned closure runs south to U.S. Highway 136 in Rock Port, Mo., a distance of about 30 miles.

The department says the southbound I-29 off-ramp at Exit 1 is closed as well as Iowa Highway 333 from I-29 to Hamburg.

Some levees protecting Iowa communities from the rising Missouri River are very fragile and people are being warned to stay away from them — or else. This unidentified man was ticketed for crossing a flood barrier in the Crescent area of Pottawattamie County, north of Council Bluffs.

“The ticket was for $195 and there was no talking about it,” he says. “There was no common sense. I think what they need to do is help people out on a case-by-case scenario. Find out what’s going on.” The man says he owns property in the Crescent area that had been evacuated. He says he wanted to take pictures to show other property owners how conditions had changed since they were forced to leave.

“I went back down there where the levee is to take a photograph to send it back to these guys saying, here’s the water level and I think we can get a canoe or kayak down there with permission from the city of Council Bluffs Fire Marshal to do more assessment,” he says. “Take photographs for insurance, of the propane tanks and a lot of things to eliminate a lot of stress.”

He says the rules change from day-to-day when it comes to the flood.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) – Missouri River floodwaters are now less than 2 miles away from the town of Hamburg. Officials have been working to improve a temporary levee around the town to hold back the water rushing out of a failed levee 5 miles south of Hamburg.

The floodwaters are expected to reach Hamburg sometime later today (Wednesday). The Army Corps of Engineers hopes the temporary levee built over the past two weeks will keep Hamburg dry. If the levee fails, officials predict parts of the town could be covered by as much as 10 feet of water for months.

The water reached the western edge of Interstate 29 this (Wednesday) morning, forcing the closure of the southbound on-ramp and covering several hundred feet of Iowa Highway 333 west of the interstate. The Iowa Department of Transportation is also reporting the closure of Interstate 29 at exit 10 (Iowa Highway 2), due to flooding.

The I-29 closure extends to the U.S. 136 interchange near Rock Port, Mo.Traffic is being detoured using U.S. 136 east to U.S. 71 in Iowa.

AMES, Iowa – June 15, 2011; 9 a.m. – The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) is reporting the closure of  Interstate 29 at exit 10 (Iowa 2) due to flooding. The I-29 closure extends to the U.S. 136 interchange near Rock Port, Mo.

Traffic is being detoured using U.S. 136 east to U.S. 71 in Iowa.
To reach destinations south of Council Bluffs, continue on U.S.71 north to Iowa 2 west to I-29 north. (I-29 north is closed north from exit 55 in Council Bluffs to exit 71 (U.S. 30 at Missouri Valley)
Persons traveling to Sioux City can continue on U.S. 71 north to U.S. 20 west to Sioux City.
Persons traveling to Council Bluffs/Omaha should stay on U.S. 71 north to I-80 west into Council Bluffs.
For southbound I-29 travelers the detour is in reverse order.
For northbound and southbound I-29 travelers intending to go through Iowa, the detour begins in Kansas City. Take I-35 north through Iowa to I-90 west in Minnesota to I-29 south.

For current updates on road conditions – 24 hours a day, visit www.511ia.org or call 511. 

(IA DOT press release)

Two people were arrested early this (Wednesday) morning in Adams County, on Public Intoxication charges. The Adams County Sheriff’s Department reports 22-year old Shawn Crouch, of Atlantic, and 19-year old Bobby Farwell, of Essex, were taken into custody at around 2:20-a.m., following an argument with another man on Davis Street in Corning.

Crouch and Farwell were charged with Public Intoxication, second-offense.