The latest local news, weather and high school sports in and around Columbia and Jefferson City

Updated: Thursday, June 23 at 8:15 p.m.

Jefferson City officials have updated city flood plan in anticipation of this summer's flooding.

 Now the city plans to start daily briefings with city officials once the river reaches flood stage.

Jefferson City residents flooding concerns prompted city leaders to open the doors of city hall Thursday night, allowing residents to ask questions.      

Many residents came because their property lies in flood prone areas while others came to learn about possible road closures and what other precautions need to be taken.

Jefferson City Mayor Eric Struemph said he’s proud of how the city has handled the situation so far,” Struemph said.  “I think so far the staff has really done a great job with all the mapping we have, everything that’s on our website, there you can actually find a projection viewer that will show you the different elevations all through the city and that’s a great tool that we didn’t have in ’93.”

Inside this plan the city said a flood-prone area to watch is Wears Creek in Jefferson City. 

The creek isn't backing up right now, but as the Missouri River rises, water won't be able to drain out of the city, the first area to flood will be the parking lot near the capitol.

Maps from the city show the possible flooding levels. 

One shows what it would look like if the river reaches 27 feet, which is our lowest predicted crest. 

While there is some flooding it doesn’t look too bad. 

But when you flip the page to see what the flooding could look like if the water reaches 35 feet, there’s a drastic change.

It shows water backed up into surrounding areas with red lines dotting the entire map, the red lines show closed roads.

Struemph said we all should be prepared and willing to help.

“I think we all have to be prepared and especially helping the people that maybe can’t help themselves, our city has put tags on the houses that were flooded before in ’93 and actually sent a mailer to those homes too,” Struemph said.  “So I think we need to help each other and that’s really what we do here in central Missouri already.”

Original Story:

The Missouri River crest forecast in Jefferson City remains between 27 and 35 feet. Thursday morning, Jefferson City officials released an updated city flood plan.

There are really two plans.

One gets put in place if the forecasted crest is between 23 and 30 feet, another if the forecast is above 30 feet.

The checkpoint list includes daily briefings with city officials when the water gets to 23.3 feet.

Cole Junction Road closes at 23.10 feet. The city will seal manholes at 26.1 and prepare to vacate the Memorial Airport terminal at 27.1. And some of the items on the list have already been checked off.

The forecast could change with variable like rainfall and levee breaks to our north. That's why city officials said they’d rather be over prepared than not at all prepared.