NEBRASKA CITY – Sapp Brothers held a grand re-opening of its Percival Travel Center Thursday with gratitude to God and commitment to overcoming natural disasters.

An unusual cold snap meant an abundance of snow in the Platte River valley remained unmelted deep into March and a widespread rain event triggered unprecedented flooding. The Missouri River set a record height 12 feet above flood stage and five feet above the federal flood levee.

Interstate 29 was soon closed and the popular truck stop was part of a mandatory evacuation by March 15.

Dan Adams, president of Sapp Brothers Travel: “We went to work after the water receded and we started to remodel and we were ready on May 12, we were ready to re-open again. We weren’t perfect, but we were ready to open up the place again. We left -- it was a Thursday night – and we got back Friday morning and we had water just coming around the gas pumps again.”

The second round of river flooding had the company working desperately three to four weeks with sand bags and berms.

Adams: “The water just kept coming up so high and it got too deep for the loaders and the equipment to get in here. It finally broke the wall and it flooded the whole place again, so we lost all the renovation that we did inside.”

  Fremont County Emergency Management

 

Adams said the idea of quitting is not in their DNA. He called the spot between Interstate 29 and Nebraska City a great location and said they have bought a loader and stored up dirt to react, if the river rises again.

The state of Iowa is building overflow bridges to eliminate the Nebraska City pinch point on the river and Adams said Fremont County Emergency Management expects Sapp Brothers would have two to three days warning  of upstream flooding.

Andy Richards, CEO of Sapp Brothers Inc., led a Nebraska City Tourism and Commerce ribbon cutting with a prayer.

Richards: “God can use anything for the good of those who love Him and for his purposes. We truly believe that. We think that He can use this flood and He did use this flood. There have been so many unbelievably positive things to happen to Sapp Brothers through this flood.”

Richards said the back-to-back natural disasters demonstrated the commitment of the company’s leadership and strengthened its bonds in teamwork.

 

  by Dan Swanson