JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon held a press conference Monday alongside members of state recovery units to detail the response from the executive branch to widespread flooding across Missouri. He declared a state of emergency Sunday, Dec. 27.
Nixon noted that while the National Guard was being updated on the situation, the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Department of Public Safety and the State Emergency Management Agency had all been active over the past few days, even before the storms came, in coordinating their efforts and allocating resources to the hardest hit areas.
While forecasts indicate the rain will end Monday night in most parts of the state, Nixon warned that flooding was only expected to get worse.
“It has been a very difficult several days, and this threat is clearly not over,” he said, noting that some parts of Southern Missouri had seen up to 12 inches of rain since Saturday.
The governor also confirmed that 10 people had died as a result of the flood, nine by drowning and one by electrocution from a downed powerline. The nine who drowned died because they drove into flooded roads.
“We talk a lot about not driving into water… and a vast number of the deaths we have right here are because of exactly that,” Nixon said.
He also expects that number to rise, saying that a few rescue operations had turned into recovery efforts.
Nixon also relayed that certain points on the Mississippi River, near Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau, were expecting flood crests in the coming days that could surpass record highs and that other points on the Mississippi and its tributaries would approach or reach those records, most of which were set during the Flood of 1993.
“If that river hits the targets that are predicted right now then that’s the highest the river has ever been,” he said. “I would recommend people take care of themselves at a safe level.”
