Harrison County, Iowa, officials preparing for flooding from two rivers

LITTLE SIOUX, Iowa (WOWT) - The Little Sioux River in Harrison County, Iowa, has grown up.

It’s out of its banks and pushing a sizeable amount of debris and water into the Missouri River. The rising Missouri is posing a threat to those in the woodland campground. High water has already taken over what was once a parking lot, and the Missouri has swallowed up some amenities at the campground.

“There’s an RC park down there for remote-control cars, it’s totally underwater now,” said safety director Owen Burgin. “(We) have a big burn pit down there, it’s totally underwater.”

Burgin is the campground’s manager. He says they expect the Little Sioux and Missouri to run even higher, but so far, they haven’t issued evacuation orders.

“We’re holding off on that as a last resort, but we have encouraged people to move their campers.”

Tony and Rachael Costanzo took that advice and are not taking chances.

“We got our camper and everything out of here,” she said. “Hopefully it’s all safe.”

“We’ve heard from the other residents here that the Missouri has flooded in the past, (but) not both the Little Sioux and the Missouri at the same time,” he said.

That’s what campground officials are worried about -- they only had to deal with the Missouri River when floods hit in 2011 and 2019.

“Our biggest concern this year was the amount of water in the Little Sioux and it’s cresting at the same time the Missouri is,” Burgin said. “We’re very concerned (because) we’ve never experienced as to where the Little Sioux water is going to go.”

Harrison County officials are sure the campground will take on some water, but they’re keeping a close eye on the rising rivers.

“We’re projecting that there will be flooding here,” said emergency management coordinator Bonnie Castillo. “Right now, Harrison County officials are doing everything we can to monitor the situation, look at information. If there’s anything residents need to know or if there’s any plans for evacuation, they will know before anyone else.”

Tony and Rachael have confidence in county and campground officials, but right now their biggest concern is having to potentially drive away from this year’s camping season.

“It may be, unfortunately, I think our camping season here is done for the year if (the water) doesn’t recede.”

Harrison County EMA wants to make sure residents are getting correct information and ask only to rely on said information. That will come from Alert Iowa, the state’s official emergency notification system, as well as the Harrison County EMA website and Harrison County 911 Facebook page.

Copyright 2024 WOWT. All rights reserved.