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Leavenworth to close park in advance of floodwaters

By Special To Lansingcurrent.Com - | Jun 11, 2011

Due to the projected river levels, the city of Leavenworth has closed its Animal Control Facility (1720 S. 2nd St.) and will close public access to Riverfront Park Campground at noon Sunday, June 12.

The flood stage on the Missouri River at Leavenworth was at 20.9 feet Friday evening, but the National Weather Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are predicting for levels to reach 22.6 feet by next Tuesday, which is expected to raise the Missouri River to a stage that will inundate Riverfront Park.

“We have cancelled all reservations in our campground from Sunday, forward,” said Julie Anderson, Parks and Recreation Director. “We are also notifying residents that the park will be closed to public access. In addition, only City and Water Department vehicles will be allowed east of the railroad tracks on Dakota Street.”

Furthermore, with City officials predicting the river to rise to 25.5 feet by next weekend, arrangements have already been made to close Second Street down near the City’s Animal Shelter, Waste Water Treatment Plant and Brush Site.

“Because of the expected longevity of this year’s flood, we not only wanted to move Animal Control to another location, but also restore operations,” Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens said. “We have found a perfect fit at the old Walmart building where we will be able to occupy the old Automotive/Lawn and Garden Areas and reopen for business by next Thursday.”

“We are pleased to announce that due to an outpouring of resident and rescue groups support, we were able to find 50 animals’ good homes in the last 10 days and now currently only have three animals remaining for the move,” Kitchens added. “We still are in the need of chain link kennels, however, as we are running very short on those.”

Full service at Animal Control will reconvene at 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 16 at the old Walmart location (3450 S. 4th St.) in Leavenworth. For more information regarding Leavenworth Animal Control, please contact Cindy Dressler at cdressler@firstcity.org or visit http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/lv.html.

As communities along the river experience unprecedented flows out of the Missouri River main stem reservoirs, the Army Corps of Engineers in the Omaha District wants to ensure they are provided with accurate and up-to-date information in a timely fashion and has established a Joint Information Center for Missouri River flooding. The public can email questions to the Joint Information Center at MRJIC@usace.army.mil or call 402-996-3877.

During any flood response activities throughout the basin, the Corps will also provide regular updates directly to the public via Facebook and Twitter (OmahaUSACE). View daily and forecasted reservoir and river information on the Water Management section of the Northwestern Division homepage at www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc.

For more local flood and emergency information, visit the City of Leavenworth’s website www.lvks.org and check out the City’s Facebook (City of Leavenworth) and Twitter (First_City) pages. The public can also contact the Leavenworth County Emergency Management Office at 913-684-0455.