Agency, Mo. – Five burst levees along the Missouri River sent a deluge of water that submerged the tiny town of Big Lake on Tuesday, as thousands in the area fled their homes amid warnings that flooding could approach the devastation of 1993.
The levees broke Monday south of Big Lake and the rush of river water immersed the town on Tuesday, said Mark Sitherwood, presiding commissioner of Holt County. Many of the buildings in town had several feet of water inside, said Holt County Clerk Kathy Kunkel.
“The town is a loss. At this time, we don’t know, but it looks like that’s what’s going to happen,” he said.
No injuries were reported.
Big Lake is about 95 miles northwest of Kansas City and has a population of 127, according to 2000 census reports. Nearby, the communities of Craig and Fortescue were being threatened, Sitherwood said.
In Agency, a town of about 100 surrounded on three sides by the Platte River, most residents had evacuated.
The town was hit hard in 1993 in one of the most costly and devastating floods in U.S. history. That flood claimed 48 lives in the Midwest and caused $18 billion in damage.
By midday Tuesday, a few homes were partly submerged, as were nearby roads and a cemetery.
