Phelps City, MO: Flood of 2019: Burning soybean pile

(Satellite)

(Update: a comment on a post:
Phyllis Ivy Ottmann Our local volunteer fire department, after over a month of repeatedly having to try to control the pile of burning beans, is still being called out to Gavilon Grain. A concrete silo of corn also ignited.)

The Farmer's Life shared
Scott Roberts They were just able to drive to the facility a few days ago, flooded around it still. Tarp blew off when lost power back in March.

Change The Manual posted
650,000 bushels of soybeans on fire, near Rock Port, Missouri.
They got wet from flood water, rotted and spontaneous combustion took care of the rest.
Phyllis Ivy Ottmann Yep. Gavilon Elevator right here in Phelps City, by Rock Port. Started smoldering from combustion about a month ago. There is also an even larger pile of corn outside there which has about four feet spoiled over the whole top. Corn isn’t as likely to combust, because it doesn’t contain the oil soybeans do.
Thankfully, Gavilon is re-opening after they are finally able to get to the facility, which is still surrounded by flood water.
Larry Miller Flood damaged grain instantly became trash. The disposal a massive and costly process. Especially with the new crops at the door for those lucky enough to raise something.
Trevor Mullins See the cables running to the top of the conveyor belt?? That’s where the kevlar tarp laid. And an air blower at the base blower to keep it up to keep them off of the cables. I worked at a plant like this. That’s the only reason I know.
[The normal ways of disposal are burying it or spreading it out on fields. It would be cheaper to just let it burn. But several people commented that rotting beans stink and burning makes the stink even worse.]
Branden Riddle Our Railroad [BNSF/CB&Q] just opened the line up that runs past and feeds it. What's left of the tracks inside there looks like a roller coaster.
Phyllis Ivy Ottmann There was an air- flow system to keep them from spoiling. Electricity was shut off the middle of March because of flood water so there was no way to protect them.

Tom Scott I hear that 136 is still closed at Brownsville. Is that correct??
Bill Howell Tom Scott Yes

Phyllis Ivy Ottmann Ted Anderson At Gavilon the system of piling grain on the ground where it is hauled out quickly on the train that circles the pile is very efficient. Grain in bins in flood water spoils because electricity is shut off.

Ethan Collins Does that mean bean prices are going to go up?!??
Dodi Kuhns Ethan Collins lots of Midwest planted beans because they couldn’t get the corn in the ground on time. Also~ they weather in general for farmers and ranchers has hit everyone really hard this year. Some say it’s the hardest hit they have taken in decades.
Phyllis Ivy Ottmann Ethan Collins Because of tariffs, China, our biggest buyer is buying grain elsewhere.

John Janssen Ottmann Ransom farmers grain had a 105 600000 bu corn spon and go up few years back its the bacteria some can actually survive up to 900 degrees one set hands of to another until there’s smoke

Phyllis Ivy Ottmann Very few farmers had flood insurance on grain stored on the farm for many reasons.
1. It is very costly and that cost has to be weighed against what the grain is worth. Grain prices were at all-time lows in March.
2. Farmers store grain on the farm during harvest for convenience and time, so they can get crops out of the field as soon as possible, while crops remain standing. The plan is to sell the grain & haul it to elevators, hopefully at a profitable price. The winter of 2018-2019 had excessive snows making it impossible to get the grain moved.
3. Flood insurance on stored grain had to be purchased 30-60 days ahead of the flood. The March 15 flood came earlier and quicker than previous floods. It takes time to move grain. Conditions were muddy, so grain couldn’t be hauled out.
4. Therefore, the millions of bushels of grain stored on farms are not covered by insurance. Most bins burst. Even grain in bins that didn’t burst will be spoiled from heat (electricity shut off so fans can’t run) or because they are contaminated by flood water.
5. Farmers needed the income from that grain to pay accrued farming costs.

Doug Stara The ethanol plants have large sings at the gates saying they will not except any flood damaged corn

LeAnn Sterup commented on the post
This was taken last night from the bluffs to the east of the I-29
[Looking at a map, this elevator is normally a mile away from the Missouri River!]

Change The Manual posted

Change The Manual posted
The 650,000 soybean pile, March 18, 2019. It was covered at this point. Between the heat and the wind, it has since blown off.

Change The Manual posted
This is what the bean pile looked like on July 16th. It’s been burning for weeks.

I scrolled through the Change The Manual page. Evidently the manual is the US Army Corps of Engineers manual for how to operate the dams and levees along the Missouri River. "This all started when they changed the manual. Too much water is being stored under multipurpose and not enough room left for exclusive flood control." The manual used to favor flood control. Now it favors flooding the farms to force them to sell. The farmers not only loose a year's worth of crops, their fields are left with a bunch of sand on them.

Change The Manual
[m.a.f. = million acre feet]
Brad-Shay Homeyer 2011 was a wet year. If you begin the year with 57 maf, as has been proven, average or above mountain/plains snow pack OR a wet Spring brings disaster. Nearly takes a drought not to flood.
"They keep saying that only 50 percent or so of the flood control has been used. The truth is 77.5 percent of the total capacity of all the reservoirs is full year round. Only 22.5 percent of the capacity is used for flood control."

Push the people until they break. Then buy the land for pennies on the dollar, with their tax money.
This is what happens when you let environmental extremists write the manual.
[Change The Manual]

Change The Manual

See Below

Info for above image from Change The Manual

Change The Manual

Change The Manual
This was taken March 20th 2019. South bound I-29 in Missouri. Think about how deep the water was when you drive by this mile marker.
[I have not figured out how to access Mile Marker info in Google Map.]

The roads and railroads were built with the assumption that the levees would hold. specifically, they did not have periodic bridges to pass the flow of water across farm fields when the levees broke. The roads were not only wiped out, they dammed up the water causing even more farms and towns to be flooded. This is one of the washouts on US-136. There was a lot bigger one to the west.

Screenshot @ -0:37
Judy Jane Becker Here is one of my scariest and stupidest experiences on the Missouri River. If you stop the video at 0.16 you can see an elevator I used to go to to check grain on barges on the Missouri River. One of the elevator employees unleashed (untied) the barge before the barge was filled and the grain was till running into the barge. I heard something, and turned around and the other employees still on top of the barge with me were running at top speed and jumping for the adjustable gang plank to get off the barge while yelling (a person had to yell to hear over the noise the corn was making while filling the barge) get off the barge now, its loose, because one of the employees on the shore just untied the barge from the big pillers along shore.. I could not leave as long as the corn was still filling the barge. Just before the elevator employee untied the barge, a tugboat came from down stream, went past the barge, cut speed to drift back down stream to slowly pull behind the barge. By this time the almost full barge (with only me on top) (before the tug could tie onto the barge) , the current of the river was swinging the up stream side of the barge away from the shore line by about a barge length from shore. All the while all the elevator employees on shore were yelling at me to run at top speed and jump across a 15 foot space over the river between the end of the barge. I could not leave until the grain stopped loading into the barge. Some how the tug boat lashed onto the barge, I still did not understand the situation I was in, but all I could see were a few headlamps (almost dark) bobbing up and down on the tug boat deck hands hardhats while walking around the outside lip of the filled barge. I could not understand the tugboat crew, they spoke in Creole since they were from Louisiana, all the while the elevator employees were waving at me from the dock on shore and shouting, "See you in Louisiana!" I went to the end of the barge lashed to the tug to yell (only way they could hear me) to the captain of the tug to swing the barge back to the dock so I could unload all my equipment and myself, which they did until I got my last piece of equipment handed over to the elevator employees, then the barge suddenly swung away from the dock without me getting off. I told the captain to again swing back to the dock so I could get off, which he yelled he was afraid to because he could sink the barge if he rammed the dock or the rocks below-well just great!. The elevator employees yelled for me to back up and take a running jump from the barge onto the dock (no gang plank now-they didn't want the barge to rip it off the dock), and the distant is now much greater than 15 feet. Now this is the dumb and scary part that I agreed to: One elevator employees would lean out over the river on each side of the opening of the dock with their thighs resting on the top railing, while other employees were holding unto them for dear life by each leg (total of 4 - 1 for each leg). The captain told the 2 tallest and strongest deck hands to stand facing the dock on the lip around the barge. I then stepped off the top of the barge placing my right foot onto the inside left shoulder of one deck hand, and my left foot onto the inside right shoulder of the second deck hand. I then rolled up my coverall, sweat shirt, long sleeve flannel shirt, long underwear sleeves up and took my watch off (to prevent my hide from being peeled off if I was grabbed by my watch band). The two crew members I was standing on their shoulders had their hands on my boots, while two other crew members (the walk around lip on the barge was one person width) so the two extra crew members had to be on the outside of the two I was standing on-so two crew for each of my feet. The elevator and tug boat crew counted, in English, to 3 then the tug boat crew threw me across the expanse between the barge and dock about the same time the barge took another swing away from the dock. My life passed before me, as all I could see was the height of the dock where a person walked was at my eye level, and I figured I was for sure not going to make the dock but go into the river. Which I didn't expect to survive since my life vest loaned to me by the elevator was 2 times too large and I would probably slip out of it when I hit the water. By the grace of God the six elevator employees somehow barely caught me and jerked me up onto the dock. I landed in a couching position and I was lock in that position for a short while, while literally shaking like a leaf. Then all of a sudden I got really mad, stood straight up and turned around to rip the elevator employees (instead of thanking them for saving my life) on why in the world was the barge unlashed before the tug was lashed on; and don't ever do that again or I would make sure no other grain inspector would ever come to work there for I never did tell my employer what happened. Every time after that, whenever I showed up for work at that elevator, they almost carried me around on a silk pillow. To this day I still don't know how to swim.

Update:
The Farmer's Life shared:
Senator Julie Sama posted two photos with the comment:

Since flood updates don't make the headlines anymore, folks assume we're back to "business as usual" near the Missouri River. I'm here with a reality check.
Southeast Nebraska is still flooded. Up until this week, the entire town of Peru was dependent on bottled water.
There is no firm estimate for the Highway 136 and Highway 159 Missouri River bridges' reopenings. Water is still flowing over where those roads used to be.
Thousands of bushels of soybeans caught fire a few weeks back at an elevator surrounded by floodwaters. Never smelled soybeans burning before, and hope I never have to again.
We're almost six months into this natural disaster. Our area's new "normal" is learning to live with floodwaters that refuse to recede. There's endless uncertainty, but there's one thing I know for sure: we will rebuild.
Getting back to "business as usual" won't happen tomorrow, next week, or even next month, but we'll get there. We're #NebraskaStrong.
#ChangetheManual

Betty Mapes Thank you. Here in Northwest Nebraska many cannot hay and night after night we have storms. So many crops not planted. NEBRASKA STRONG
Anna Quilla O'Connell BOTH images are from Missouri. I understand that you can probably smell those awful beans across the state line but this should have been specified. I live in Nebraska but my entire family lives 5 mins from that fire. That's Missouri still recovering, not Nebraska.

Pam Hector We should be questioning why the Missouri river is still flooding! Yes, natural disaster but there is much more to it. Why is the Corp holding water back for wildlife and to ensure profit from recreation at the cost of valuable farm ground and peoples homes and possessions.
Questions need to be answered and changes MADE!
David Green Pam Hector north of there in SD we are running 300% above normal precipitation and it all runs to the Missouri River sad to say we have to let water out.
Leah 'Cooksley' Peterson Patty Clark Schoen you do understand that this has been called a 1000 year flood? No one has ever seen waters like this. I would offer grace. It is the only thing that has helped us survive out here in Nebraska where so many roads and bridges are washed away.

Kristi Hupp Pam Hector I’m not sure if you realize it but the excess rains/flooding in eastern SD this year go into the James, Vermillion and Big Sioux rivers which enter the Missouri BELOW Gavin’s Point Dam. So below the point of ACOE control. So do the Elkhorn, Platte Rivers that drain eastern NE. All of these rivers flooded, in some cases multiple times, this year contributing to the continued problems with the Missouri. As for the continued water release from Gavin’s point the Missouri is getting water from flooding rains and such north and west of here and the system of dams can only hold so much. What should they do? Close the gates on Gavin’s Point and the dams up the chain and let the reservoirs overflow, have a dam break and sent a torrent of water downstream wiping every town on the Missouri from Yankton, SD to Kansas City off the map? While I feel for the people along the Missouri further south I think people need to acknowledge there are thousands of people up river who have also flooded this year too and the no flood control system built by man is going to control flooding on a river like the Missouri when it’s huge drainage area gets hit with record amounts of precipitation for months now.

Jeannie Emberton The Missouri River near Waverly on 65 highway just south of Carrollton has been closed since May and was supposed to be closed till November.But then The State fair opened at Sedalia and Modot got big pumps and pumped it so PEOPLE COULD GET TO FAIR!!.But people that worked that had to go that route for months had to detour around 65 from Carrollton.
[There were a lot more comments arguing about a natural river vs. protecting farmland. It does seem that the USACE should have been doing big water releases earlier in the year to account for the big snow pack. One comment indicates a disaster has still not been declared. Can you imagine how quickly a disaster would have been declared and how many people, some with high heels, would have flown in a helicopter to asses the damage if  as many coastal states got this wet? The media silence concerning the hardship of "flyover" states still astounds me.]

Jason Rutz Daniel Harnish I’m in South Dakota up river and we’ve had one of the wettest summers I’ve ever experienced here. It’s rained a 1/4 inch every night here for the last three nights. We’ve had storms dump an inch in an hour and Custer got seven inches in an hour a week or two ago. There’s still a lot of water that needs to go down river.

[Interesting. We (Chicagoland area) have been in a drought for the last few weeks.]

Vicki Harden Sims I don't live there, but here in Bay County Florida, many and I do mean many are still trying to recover from category 5 Hurricane Michael. Many are still living in tents. Many are still fighting insurance companies concerning their homes. Many still have to rely on food banks due to an awful lot of business were destroyed. Which means no employment. Many had to move away. So many, that schools that were damaged are now closed and students had to be transported to other. Bay County lost some 5000 students. There is an awful lot if work still to be done. You, that were affected by the flooding are in my prayers. Please keep N. W. Florida in yours.
[It appears I was wrong about coastal vs. flyover states. It seems that the problem is that media quickly gets tired of flood news.]
Sarah Romeiser We just came down I-29 thru Iowa a week ago and on either side of Council Bluffs there was still a lot of fields under water. Was going to take an exit for gas but it was closed and completely under water-even down at intersection below!! Lots of road reconstruction going on etc. it was really sad to see.
Laree Pritchett Boyd County is still, also, without drinking water. Families are not yet back in their homes. Winter is coming.....
Change The Manual Don Batie The ACOE only leaves 22% of the total capacity of the reservoirs for flood control. The rest has been used up as “multipurpose” so they can create a spring rise in a dry year.
This is what needs to change.
Gwen Haveman March 11 2019 Missouri River 15ft or so below our bank. March 12 2019 River coming up about a foot an hour, came over bank. By March 17 2019 15ft on our land. Corps were holding water back to save 2 birds and 2 fish, to hell with the people! Number 1 is no longer flood control. They only listen to the environmentalists. Check your facts.
Lona Meyer Gwen Haveman hearing the words piping plover & pallid sturgeon tend to fill me with rage!

[The above is a summary of 50 of the 182 comments that were available.]

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Julia Shrader Is this a picture of water rushing over Highway 136 between Phelps City MO and the Brownville Bridge?
Senator Julie Slama Yes.

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