PARKVILLE, Mo. — The gravity of the flooding situation in Parkville, Missouri has lowered and turned into a public attraction. Dozens of people visited the city to see the rising water.
“Seeing it like this, it’s always crazy,” former Parkville resident Samuel Anderson said.
“It’s pretty unreal. You wouldn’t think that it would get so high,” Corey Roth said.
Bill and Penny Arbuckle showed up for their usual Sunday evening exercise, but ran into a bigger problem than they expected.
“I was shocked when we pulled up and thought wow we’re not going to be able to walk down there,” Penny said.
Part of the roads and English Landing and Platte Landing parks are closed.
“Can you see your playground?” Tom Sowers asked his son Miles. “There’s some swings over there.”
Playgrounds, parking lots, speed limit signs and pavilions are all sitting in water on Sunday.
“You walk another hundred yards past the shelter house before you even get to the place where we walk going south and you can’t even get to it,” Bill said.
“It’s kind of wild to see it that way,” Sowers said, “We’ve been here when it’s had a hard rain and some swampy areas, but nothing at all like this. It’s kind of a little unrecognizable.”
Parkville Emergency Manager and Police Captain John Jordan says the city will see only a few more feet of water.
“There’s no threat to any businesses or residences or commercial structures at all,” Jordan said.
Parkville police are focused on keeping these new found tourists from falling in the flooded areas.
“We’ll keep it as open and safe as long as we can,” Jordan said. “When the water starts covering this roadway, but we understand people want to come see the river flooding.”
Jordan only asks one thing – don’t cross the caution tape or barricades.
“We want to keep people out of here mainly for their own safety,” Jordan said, “It’s the whole purpose of it.”
Over in Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief Terry Zeilger tweeted, “The river is rising at the police range. We had to move equipment and supplies to higher ground.”
The Salvation Army is asking Kansas City metro residents to donate bottled water for people in areas hit harder by flooding.
Atchison, Holt County and Doniphan county are feeling the effects. Divisional Commander Major David Harvey says 100 families were evacuated and are looking to the Salvation Army for water, but their supply has run dry.
“We want those people to feel safe. They have to have beds there. They shouldn’t have to worry about water. So the Salvation Army, we’re the ones that help bring those kinds of items in,” Harvey said. “It’s just right now in Kansas City, we don’t have enough to hit the demand.
You can drop off your donations at your local Salvation Army Center and the warehouse at Troost and Truman Rd. or make a cash donation here.
