NEBRASKA CITY – Overflow bridges on Highway 2 near Nebraska City were doing their part to alleviate flooding on Wednesday.

The Missouri River rose to more than a foot above flood stage for the first time since the catastrophic flood of 2019, but rather than deepen at the Nebraska City pinch-point water flowed downstream beneath overflow bridges. The bridges were part of a $34 million contract to Ames Construction from designs that were produced a month after flooding the Platte River blew a hole in the bank of the Missouri River that was 3,000 feet wide and 70 feet deep.

 

 

Wednesday’s flooding followed heavy rainfall in the same region, the Platte River valley from David City to Blair. There was seven inches of rain at Wahoo and six inches west of Omaha.

The storm water overflowed the riverbank at 18 feet, but it was not obstructed by Highway 2 as it had been in 2019.

Although the 19 foot flood stage today was not quite the 30.12 feet reached on March 16, 2019, the overflow bridges did keep water off of the federal levy.

 

 

 

Prior to construction of the overflow bridges, local farmers and levy district managers complained that the river could only flow as wide as the Missouri River bridge at Nebraska City. They noted that the bank of the westbound lanes of the highway would stop overflow. The water backed up and rested on the bottom of the levy, even though flood water elsewhere continued downstream without touching the levy. The levy breached in 2011 and 2019.

The river today is expected to crest at 19.3 feet, a downgrade from Tuesday’s estimate of 20.4 feet.

Last summer, US Army Corps of Engineers coordinators credited the overflow bridges as aiding the Missouri River basin in resiliency.