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If you have a farm or business in the flood plain, now is the time to prepare.

The Missouri Propane Gas Association has issued a safety advisory urging LP users to secure or remove their tanks.

The tank lot at Capital Energy Company off Highway 63 in the Missouri bottoms stands barren. The company relocated hundreds of individual tanks to higher ground.

“We just decided to move everything out,” Operations Manager Jen Steenburgen said. “We’re not gonna take any risk, so we packed it  all up and decided to get it out of here.”

The people here remember 1993. A 20,000 gallon service tank broke loose in the flood waters upstream from the 54/63 bridge. The threat prompted authorities to close the highway even before the water overtook it.

“That tank has the possibility of rocketing,” Jefferson City Fire Chief Bob Rennick said. “It could plane out across the water. There could be a tremendous fireball.”

Ultimately the tank was recovered without incident, but no one wants to go through that again. In recent years, Capital Energy has built a new distribution center, one that stands on stilts. The service tank sits atop massive concrete pilings that stand will above the 1993 water level. The company is more worried about its customers not being ready. There have been a lot of phone calls.

“We don’t want them to be worried, but if you see the water start to rise, let us know,” Steenburgen said.

Steenburgen said customers should not try to disconnect or reconnect propane tanks on their own.

“We definitely don’t want that,” she said. “That’s why we’re here. We’re here to help people move their tanks and we don’t want anybody messing with their own equipment.”