Ozark County was inundated with up to 7 inches of rain in a 24-hour period in some parts of the county late last week that wreaked havoc on area roads and bridges and prompted some water rescues.
The hardest hit part of the county by the fast-moving floodwaters was the north-central and northwest parts of the county.
According to an Ozark County Sheriff’s report, two individuals were trapped in a vehicle in the water in the Hodgson Mill area and firefighters were trying to reach them. Dora and Tecumseh firefighters responded.
Dora fire chief Monte Shipley said that first responders from his department attempted to reach the vehicle from the north side of the bridge, but they were unable to see the vehicle or any people.
The Ozark County Ambulance responded, reaching the motorists from the south side of the bridge.
Both of the unidentified people were found safe and didn’t require medical attention, according to the report.
The most severe damage was done on Highway 181 near Hodgson Mill, where a “mountain of trees” was washed down Bryant Creek and tore big chunks out of the roadway that may take several days to repair, according to Ozark County presiding commissioner John Turner. Turner said that the highway may be closed for “quite a while” as the repairs are made.
“Those trees stacked up on 181 there at Hodgson looked like a two story house in the road,” said eastern district commissioner Gary Collins.
As the Times went to press Tuesday, MoDOT officials were still working to repair Highway 181 near Hodgson Mill. There was no word on how long the highway would be closed.
Also, Highway 95 near County Road 156 and County Road 164 remains closed with water over the road, according to MoDOT traveler information website, https://traveler.modot.org/report/modottext.aspx?filterDistrict=ALL&filt…
Most of the damage on county roads appears to have been in the west and northwest portions of the county, according to commissioners, who discussed the Friday onslaught of rain at their regular weekly meeting Monday morning.
Western District Commissioner Layne Nance said roads were heavily damaged in the Souder, Almartha, Wasola and Thornfield areas.
“We’re hoping to have most of them passable in the next couple days,” Nance said. “Now they won’t be good, but we’re hoping to get them passable for people for the holidays.”
Nance said there were a few areas Monday where water was still over some county roads.
“We worked through the weekend. I was on a grader and I had my guys on backhoes clearing things out,” Nance said. “We’re busting our tails to get things fixed.”
Collins said the eastern side of the county (his district) really didn’t have much road damage from the unexpected deluge, which was forecast to be less than two inches of rain.
“We’re in pretty good shape,” Collins said. “Warren (Bridge) is standing tall.”
Collins said the flood of 2017 caused the county to do extensive work on their culverts and infrastructure, which helped greatly during the recent flood.
“It helped that in 2017 we started working on extending our culverts and that helped handle the water better this time.”
Late Friday and on Saturday, water was over the highways in several parts of the county, including Highway 181 at Hodgson Mill, Highway 95, H Highway at Patrick Bridge and other areas.
Water was still over the bridge at Dawt Mill Monday morning, according to Collins, who also reported there was debris hung up under the bridge that would have to be removed as soon as the water recedes.
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