More rain in the forecast
May 04, 2017
PORTAGEVILLE, MO -- Missouri rice country has not been spared by the storm system ravaging the mid-south. In the past week, this area of the state has received between 6 and 10 inches of rainfall on top of already saturated soil conditions. Floodways and ditches are at capacity or over, and a fair amount of water coming south from the Ozarks has also helped overwhelm the lake and tributary capacities.
“All corn in the area was planted, some beans, a little cotton and a large amount of rice is in the ground,” said Trent Haggard, with the University of Missouri’s Fisher Delta Research Center. “Currently, lots of area fields appear as if they are rice fields that have already been brought up to a flood. All recently planted rice has now been flooded for several days. We need the water to recede quickly to attempt to salvage the costs already invested in the acres that have been planted.”
Reporting on conditions in southeast Missouri, rice consultant Amy Beth Dowdy, said, “In Pemiscot and Dunklin counties there are probably around 1,500 to 2,000 acres flooded with only inches of water. However, Butler, Stoddard, and New Madrid counties have it worse - they are flooded by feet of water. My best guesstimate would be 10,000 acres underwater.”