By JOE JEREK
Mo. Dept. of Conservation
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) continues work on evaluating and repairing river and stream accesses damaged by flooding earlier this spring. Most flood damage occurred to MDC accesses in the Ozarks on the Current River, North Fork of the White River, and the Gasconade River.
MDC reports most accesses have already been repaired by removing debris, filling in scour holes, and repairing and replacing ramps, parking pads, and other structures -- but some remain closed due to extensive damage.
"Safe passage to the river is still limited at Myrtle, Hebron, Warren Bridge, Cook, Blair Bridge, and Jerome accesses due to extensive flood damage to roads, parking lots, and ramps," said MDC Design and Development Division Chief Jacob Careaga. "For public safety, these accesses remain closed at this time."
He added that some of these river accesses have sustained significant damages from flooding multiple times over the years so MDC is also doing more extensive evaluations of these areas.
"We are assessing these select areas to see if the current locations are the best places to have accesses and if there are different ways to rebuild structures or potentially relocate accesses to better locations in the same area," Careaga said. "At this time, we have not decided to permanently close any accesses."