LINCOLN -- Emergency officials have set up a public telephone hot line for residents to call with questions about flooding emergencies.
The hot line, 888-656-6045, will be staffed by National Guard troops. The hot line operates from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
The record surge from the flooding Elkhorn River reached Norfolk on Tuesday morning, and local officials were hoping that years of flood protection efforts would pay off.
Most land along the river is parkland or areas where previously flood-prone homes were bought out.
Two problems remained. The city was out of sandbags, and the flood waters were flowing into ditches and finding some new routes toward the city.
“It's at our door,” said Faythe Petersen, emergency manager for the three-county area that includes Norfolk. “We just don't know what it will do.”
Petersen said more sandbags were expected to arrive later in the day after volunteers depleted the stock of 20,000 in protecting the communities of Tilden, Battle Creek and Meadow Grove.
The Elkhorn set records at Ewing, Neligh and now Norfolk, swamping that city's old record of 13.1 feet for flooding not related to ice jams.
Tuesday morning, the river was at 14.4 feet at Norfolk and still rising, according to Van deWald of the National Weather Service. It is projected to drop below flood stage by Thursday.
Sixty of the state's 93 counties are expected to request help as a result of the June storms, said Al Berndt, assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. At least 44 already have.
In terms of water volume, the current flooding in central and eastern Nebraska rates a 10, Berndt said.
“Where the Loup River and Platte River come together (near Columbus), the Platte just blossoms. It looks like the Missouri River,” he said. “The Loup River is absolutely like you haven't seen it before.”
Gov. Dave Heineman said it could be a week or more until the state's rivers fully retreat within their banks.
What Nebraska needs is plenty of sunshine so the ground can dry out and area rivers can quickly subside. While that's not in the forecast, neither are the drenching rains that caused much of the havoc.
Closer to the metro area, rivers are generally expected to crest and drop without significant, additional widespread damage in most areas.
The Omaha metro area is not at significant risk because its Papillion Creek system was not in the watershed that saw heavy rainfall.
The record water levels that have been seen on the upper Elkhorn are not expected to cause significant additional damage when that water reaches the Omaha area, according to the National Weather Service.
Becky Kern, meteorologist with the weather service, said there are several reasons for that.
First, the current floodwaters on the Elkhorn in Douglas and Sarpy counties will have moved out of the area by the time the surge of upstream floodwater arrives.
Just as important, there's more room in the Elkhorn in the Omaha area than there is upstream.
Likewise, the weather service is projecting that the Platte can accommodate additional water without additional serious flooding.
Significant levee and other improvements have been made along the Platte since the extensive damage suffered in 1993. So, while the volume of water is higher than in 1993, so is the river's ability to absorb it.
In terms of the Elkhorn and Platte Rivers, DeWald provided the following estimates of crest times and drops below flood stage:
Elkhorn River: While record levels have been seen at Ewing, Neligh and Norfolk, the Elkhorn is not expected to set records at most other communities as it moves further downstream:
Pilger - Crests Tuesday night, a slow fall after that.
West Point - Crests Wednesday morning almost two feet higher than Tuesday morning levels, below flood stage on Friday.
Waterloo - Crested Monday at 18.6 feet, which is below the record of 19.1 feet. Tuesday morning it was at 18.2 feet and declining, might bump back up to 15.8 feet Thursday.
Platte River: Ashland, North Bend, Louisville - Holding steady, slow drop forecast.
As they look ahead, emergency managers are focusing on several things:
• Public health: Sewage systems in several communities failed, and at least 35 livestock operations released waste into the floodwaters, according to the state. In addition, there's likely to be other unknown contaminants in the water, and threats to public health — including bacteria and mold — could result.
A number of counties plan to offer clinics so those exposed to floodwaters can get tetanus shots.
• Water supply Two communities may have had their water supplies compromised - Kennesaw and Stanton. Stanton sent samples in for testing Tuesday. The state's Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging people to have their domestic well water tested if they have any concerns that their water may have been contaminated.
• Road systems: At least 20 bridges and numerous roads have been washed out. Some repairs could take weeks or months.
So many roads are damaged that simply getting around has become difficult. Some communities are cut off from their normal source of emergency medical help.
For example, injured or ill people from Arlington will have to travel farther than just the usual few minutes to Fremont for emergency care, said Bill Pook, regional emergency manager in that area. Instead, ambulances will have to ferry them to Blair, which isn't designed for trauma victims, or to Omaha.
• Levees: Some counties plan to have levees inspected because they've been placed under great stress. Pook said engineers will check the Elkhorn levee in Dodge County.
• Dams: Four dams are known to have broken. One flooded North Loup, another required the evacuation of Ericson, a third damaged a popular trout pond at Calamus Reservoir and the fourth damaged the road around the reservoir. At least two dams — the Burwell and Spalding — were overtopped but appeared stable on Monday. Berndt said dams are being monitored by the State Department of Natural Resources.
• Sewage systems: Several appear to have been compromised. Clearwater was continuing to sandbag Monday to protect its damaged sewage system. Schuyler had brought in pumps for its damaged system and asked people to curtail their water use.
• Red Cross emergency shelters: They have been set up in Clearwater, Schuyler, Primrose, North Loup, Arlington and King Lake.
Berndt said the state will most likely suffer enough damage to public roads and structures to qualify for federal disaster aid. The threshold is about $2.3 million.
“We're just hoping that the water will crest and start to go down,” he said.
Western Nebraska's rivers are swollen, too.
Lake McConaughy, the state's largest reservoir, was nearly two feet higher Tuesday than a week ago because of high flows pouring into the lake from the North Platte River. The lake was 79 percent full, compared to nearly 53 percent full a year ago.
Cropland near Loomis and Bertrand in south-central Nebraska is so soggy from rain that farmers there are being allowed to pump water into irrigation canals from their fields.
Emergency management officials in western Iowa said rivers and creeks were flowing bank to bank, but there was not significant flooding except on some low-lying farmland.
World-Herald staff writers David Hendee and Jim Johnson contributed to this report.
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