On Oct. 14, the Environmental Emergency Response Section (EER), the Buchanan County Emergency Management Director, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) conducted a flyover of the Missouri River. The primary mission of the flyover was to identify any abandoned or orphaned hazardous materials containers. This information gathering event will enable EER to develop a reconnaissance plan to retrieve any containers in and around the floodway. The MSHP provided a fixed wing aircraft for the flight. On Oct. 19-20, EER On-Scene Coordinators from the Kansas City Regional area conducted ground reconnaissance of the containers identified during the Oct. 14 flight. Less than fifteen containers have been identified as being left behind by the flood waters. The containers are of sizes varying from small propane cylinders up to a 10,000-gallon underground tank. The containers are mostly empty. EER will be working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on recovery and disposal of these orphaned containers
The department urges citizens in flood-prone areas to secure propane tanks properly and mark the tanks to help identify them and avoid safety problems prior to flooding.
Information regarding reducing the impact of flooding regarding propane tanks and agricultural chemicals is available in the department’s fact sheets:
Reducing the Impact of Flooding – Propane Tanks
and Reducing the Impact of Flooding – Agricultural Chemicals
To report an environmental emergency, including fuel spills, please contact the department’s spill line at 573-634-2436.
For more information, please visit the Environmental Services Program web site.
Visit the department’s Natural Disaster Resources for more information regarding disasters and disaster resources.
