By Kyle Troutman ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

More than 6 inches of rain falls in some areas

Portions of Barry County have seen more than 6 inches of rainfall since about 4 p.m. on Thursday, leading to extensive road flooding, but so far sparing most buildings.

David Compton, Barry County Emergency Management director, said the central area of the county, over Mark Twain National Forest and north of Shell Knob, received the most rainfall.

“We’ve got some flooding, and we’re going to get more,” he said. “Based on radar-indicated rainfall, the central part of the county got upwards of 6 inches, and the rest of the county has seen about 3.5 inches. But, it’s still raining, and we expect another 1-1.5 inches today.”

Flat Creek is at 20.7 feet as of 10 a.m. Friday, and Compton said the highest he’d ever seen it is 25.9 feet when it broke its banks in 2017.

“This is still a high reading, probably in the top five I’ve seen,” he said. “It’s normally at 4 feet, and flood stage is 7 feet, so we are seeing some moderate flooding.”

While Flat Creek rose Friday morning, Roaring River fell after crests of 7 feet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and again at 3 a.m. Friday. Flood stage is at 3.5 feet.

Joel Topham, Roaring River State Park natural resources manager, said at 10:15 a.m. Friday the river was on the rise again. Campgrounds 2 and 3 were evacuated at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, both seeing flooding. Campground 1 was evacuated at about 9 p.m.

“In talking with NOAA, they said it was likely to go back up again and possibly be a record, so we pulled the plug and got everyone out,” Topham said. “Campground 1 was back open, but NOAA said the river will rise again today to about 5.8 feet. We’re just trying to keep people out of harm’s way.”

Topham described the river as chocolate brown milk with large chunks of debris. He said the bridges have been cleared, and staff is working on the roads at Campground 2.

“Campground 3 is not in very good shape and will probably be closed the rest of the weekend after the rest of the rains today,” Topham said. “We’ll clean that up on Monday.

“We have quite a bit of flow and debris. We are waterlogged, but everyone got out well before the river crested.”

Table Rock Lake, Compton said, was at 9.16 feet on Friday morning, below the flood stage of 9.31.

“When it gets above 9.33-9.34 is when we get worried,” he said. “But, we are still quite a ways from that.”

Beaver Lake, which has a dam that empties into Table Rock Lake, is at flood stage at 11.26 feet, but Compton said discharges from the dam have remained at the average 2,000 cfs.

“They still have some room,” Compton said. 

Compton said flooding was widespread throughout the county, especially on Thursday night.

“The city of Cassville saw a lot of street flooding,” he said. “Butler Hollow, Seligman, Flat Creek and Purdy all saw flooding. Monett hasn’t seen a lot yet, but we are watching there. In Butterfield, water was up to the railroad tracks on Highway W, and we closed Highway 97 at Route T in Pioneer. When water gets that high there, it can flood those buildings. It’s been a while since we cleaned that creek out, and I suspect it is reclogged again.”

Highway 90 in Washburn, McDowell and Cato also all saw high waters.

“It’s all the normal trouble spots,” Compton said. “Hopefully, building damage will be mitigated, but there’s no doubt we will have road damage. As the rain slows and we get reports from road districts, we will go out, asses actual damages and put that package together.”

Drivers Thursday night may have had difficulty getting across the county, as at one point, all six state highways had closures simultaneously.

“Highway 37 was closed at the McGruder farm, Highway 39 was closed at Cato, Highway 76 was closed at Hilltop, Highway 90 was closed at Main in Washburn, and Highway 97 was closed in Pioneer,” Compton said. “If you tried to take Route B, you’d get shut down at Pioneer, and if you took Route C, you’d get shut down at McDowell. When that happens at the same time, it cuts the county into four big segments.”

Only one rescue has been reported, a man trapped in a truck at Highway 76 and Farm Road 1227 pulled out by the Cassville Fire Protection District.

There was also a family in a mobile home surrounded by water, but the family told authorities they were safe and supplied.

“When the water goes down, they will be able to drive out, and if we need to get in there, we have a team that can do that,” Compton said.