The water has now receded in De Soto, but on Wednesday evening (May 11), emergency service personnel completed 11 water rescues as Joachim Creek swelled with heavy rains, De Soto Police Chief Rick Draper said.
“Rainfall was pretty intense here in town, for sure, and the water rose pretty quickly,” he said.
Draper said emergency responders did not have to navigate swift water but simply offered residents an opportunity to leave their homes as waters rose.
“At one point we coordinated with the fire department and went door to door,” Cpt. Michael McMunn said.
Those who decided to evacuate were escorted as they walked through water that was about 1 to 2 feet deep. Water later rose about waist high, McMunn said.
Floodwaters rose to about 4 feet in the area around Main and Miller streets near the De Soto Rural Fire Protection District’s House 1.
“The fire department began evacuation procedures there because the water was threatening the station,” Draper said.
Police blocked several roads that lead to the east side of the city beginning about 9:45 p.m.
“No one was able to travel from east to west or west to east. The east side was shut down,” Draper said.
Roads were closed for about two hours, McMunn said.
Tornado sirens sounded about 8:30 p.m. that evening.
Draper said the National Weather Service had not issued a tornado warning, but Jefferson 911 Dispatcher said that a trained storm spotter had spotted a tornado in the area near highways 67 and V. Draper made the decision to sound the sirens.
He said the department heard both positive and negative feedback for the decision.
“I’d rather give people warning,” he said. “I would do it again tomorrow.”
On Thursday morning (May 12), police were offering to evacuate residents from 10 homes on East Third Street near Joachim Creek.
“We started evacuations in anticipation of flooding,” he said.
Some left and some stayed, Draper said.
The water receded, however, before homes were affected. Some may have had water in their basements, he said.
Draper said he was grateful to all the emergency responders who assisted during the storm and flooding.
Flooding in other places
The water also came up and went down quickly in other parts of the county, Emergency Management Director Warren Robinson said.
He said Thursday that the Big River was rising.
“There is moderate river flooding forecast for the Big River,” he said. “This is certainly a lot less than we saw in December and January.”
This morning (May 13), roads on the west side of the county along the Big River began to close, including Hwy BB at Homestead Acres, Cedar Hill Road at the Cedar Hill river access park, South Byrnesville Road, Dutch Creek Road and Little Dutch Creek Road.
Maj. Ralph Brown of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies shut down Hwy. MM at Barnhart Hills Estates for a short time when water came over the road.
In addition, Konert Road at the Willows in Fenton and one lane of Seckman Road near Mastodon State Park in Imperial were closed for a short time on Thursday.
Robinson said the pattern is “typical spring flooding.”