HAMBURG, Iowa (AP) – The Missouri River levee breaches near Hamburg will likely create a brief dip in downstream water levels, but no significant change in the flood forecast is expected because massive amounts of water continue to flow down the river.

National Weather Service hydrologist Dave Pearson says Monday’s breaches in northwest Missouri will provide only a temporary decline in river levels. Once the pressure equalizes again after a breach the river rises again. That’s already showing up at the river gauge near Brownville, Neb, which is just downstream of the breaches.

Hamburg continues to await the arrival of the floodwaters spewing through a broken levee about 5 miles south of the Iowa town. Cities all along the river in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri are watching for any weaknesses in their flood protections.

The Iowa State Patrol says no injuries were reported after a semi tractor trailer parked on an off-ramp rolled over into a ditch Tuesday, here in Cass County. The driver of the rig, 43-year old Dewaine Lee Jones, of Colorado Springs, CO, had taken the westbound off-ramp at the Marne exit, and illegally parked on the right shoulder.

When the 2001 conventional truck stopped, the shoulder suddenly gave way, and the truck rolled onto its passenger side, causing an estimated $30,000 damage to the truck and trailer, registered to Saunders Trucking, out of Colorado Springs. The accident happened at around 11:45-a.m.

Jones was cited for stopping, standing or parking where prohibited.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education, Tuesday evening, passed a resolution that will put on the November ballot, a measure calling for the renewal of the district’s Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL). Business Manager/Board Secretary Mary Beth Fast explained passage of the PPEL would renew the 85-cent per thousand dollar valuation for another 10-years, beginning January 1^st, 2013. She says that is unchanged from the previous time the PPEL was voted-in.

Board President Phil Hascall said the board had previously discussed keeping the levy at 85-cents per thousand. The maximum allowable levy is $1.34 per thousand.

The Board, Tuesday, also approved student fees for the 2011-2012 school year. Superintendent Mike Amstein said that includes combining some fees, and eliminating the participation fee, which is not allowed by Iowa Code. He says the Technology Fee was increased from 5-to 7-dollars, and the activities fee was increased for the activity ticket.

The activities fee went up $5, from 30- to 35-dollars, and the school lunch fees increased across the board by five-cents. In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved contracts and letters of Assignment, including Derek Bair, as Industrial Technology Instructor, and Melanie Rassmussen, as kindergarten teacher. The district is still looking to fill four teaching positions, included among them are a Middle School Math teacher, Keyboarding and English instructor positions. The district will continue to advertise for those positions until they are filled.

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)