Dreadful downpours and devastating floods have become more common in the Ozarks and around the country. From 1980 to 2024 the U.S. sustained 403 weather and climate disasters where overall damages reached or exceeded $1 billion. The Ozarks has experienced an abundance of 100 year, 500 year and 1,000 year floods in the last 20 years.  And the recent rains of July 9 reached new levels in some regions of southeast Missouri.

Flooding in the Missouri River Basin have been recorded as far back as 1673.  The flood of June 1844 is considered the greatest known in the lower Missouri Basin. A large area of the lower Missouri River Valley received heavy rainfalls during the months of May and June. Totals for the month ranged from 18 inches at St. Louis, Missouri, to 27 inches at Ft. Scott, Kansas. A report of the "Floods of 1903" describes this event: “The floods of 1785 and 1844 ran harmlessly over unbroken forests and bottom, tenanted only by the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, save along the Kaskaskia bottoms and the adjoining ones of the Mississippi, where were the little farms of the French colonists.”

The floods of June and July 1951 exceeded any others that had occurred in the lower Missouri River valley since the historic flood of 1844. A two-month period of above-normal precipitation followed by unprecedented intense rains over a 72-hour period in early July caused the resulting floods. The area most seriously affected was the Kansas basin and Missouri drainage below Kansas City, Missouri. The Weather Bureau Technical paper of this event states: "Industrial districts and transportation centers of three metropolitan areas, Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, were in the path. Two state capitals, Topeka, Kansas, and Jefferson City, Missouri, experienced the devastation. In addition, 150 flourishing communities and smaller cities suffered severe damage. Thirty thousand farms, consisting of three million acres, were affected by the flood waters. Tangible losses amounted to nearly a billion dollars. Twenty-eight lives were lost. This flood, occurring in an important agricultural and industrial area, constituted a major national catastrophe.”

My family, who were cotton farmers along the Mississippi River in southeast Missouri, were forced to leave their home for higher ground during the 1951 flood. My father had experienced the major flood of 1937 when nearby levees broke. He and his father, John Walter, had returned to their home in a boat to recover furniture and got caught in the dark. They stayed the night in the old cypress board house. When they awoke the next morning they discovered the house had floated off of its stilts during the night, and drifted with the current for almost a mile before lodging on a sandbar.

An unusual combination and sequence of hydrometeorological events occurred in the spring and summer of 1993 which culminated in the widespread Midwest flooding known as The Great Flood of 1993. The flooding occurred as a result of a previous wet fall, normal to above-normal snow accumulation, rapid spring snowmelt accompanied by heavy spring rainfall, and heavy rains in June and July.

The Natural Disaster Report states: "The Great Flood of 1993 was an unprecedented hydrometeorological event since the United States started to provide weather services in the mid-1800's. In terms of precipitation amounts, record river stages, areal extent of flooding, persons displaced, crop and property damage, and flood duration, this event (or sequence of events) surpassed all floods in the United States during modern times.” The great flood of 1995 almost became a repeat disaster.

Back to back, 2015 and 2016 brought major floods in the Missouri Ozarks. And then in March of 2017, the biggest flood most people had ever seen hit the region. Lynett Peters and her husband, Alan, had owned the River’s Edge Resort on the banks of the Jacks Fork River in Eminence for 31 years, and they said they've never seen flooding like that. The river hit a record 28 feet, destroying many businesses and homes in the Eminence area.

In 2025 Maramec Spring Park experienced the highest floodwaters ever. “The flood waters reached 5 feet in the park store,” said Wes Swee, regional manager of the James Foundation. “We are still in the process of re-building and another flood hit July 9.”

Torrential rains recently pummeled southeast Missouri again. Many areas received 6-12 inches of rain in a short period of time. Floodwaters covered areas around the Black River as it rose rapidly to a record high of 28.7 feet. Hundreds of people were rescued from catastrophic floods on Friday, July 10, including many camping along swollen rivers.

Over 200 young campers and counselors had to be rescued by helicopter near Camp Taum Sauk near Lesterville after heavy rains washed out roads. Governor Kehoe declared a state of emergency allowing National Guard Black Hawk helicopter crews to transport the campers to a nearby elementary school where they were met by their families.

Campground staffs across the region, including those of Huzzah Valley Resort, which experienced record flooding, performed flawlessly, as did first responders, as they evacuated campers. Thousands of people were evacuated across the region. That is a testament to the quality of service and commitment that our region’s camping and floating outfitters and emergency personnel have to their customers and communities.