Flooding hits area

Heavy precipitation, estimated to be between eight and 12-inches of rain, drenched most of southwest Missouri last week. While many communities experienced severe flooding, including water over the roads, Republic escaped with no unusual flooding issues, Duane Compton, Republic fire chief said.
“Because Republic is one of the highest points in Greene County, we have not had any flooding issues out of the normal,” he said. “Please note we do have some areas in town that do have minor flooding during heavy rainfall events, but everywhere that flooded last week was typical with heavy rainfall in a short amount of time.”
Compton also stated the fire department did not have to perform any water rescues, and in fact, power outages caused more problems during the storms.
“We actually had more issues with the electricity being off Thursday than we did with the flooding,” Compton said. “The power outage prompted several false alarms, and we had a couple lightning strikes around town, (but) no damage.”
Mike Landis, public information officer, added that the waters came close, but did not go over Highway 60 in Republic.
“We had some water lapping at the shoulders of Highway 60 near Walmart, but the water never did go over the roadway,” he said.
With severe weather expected to return over the next week, residents are advised to be vigilant about conditions.