Nemaha County Commissioner Marvin Bohling and Nemaha County Emergency Management Agency officials recently visited McKissicks Island to see firsthand the amount of damage sustained there when the Missouri River broke through a levee west of Hamburg, Iowa.

While McKissicks Island is located east of the Missouri River and northeast of Peru, it is still a portion of Nemaha County.
Richard Vlach, Nemaha County EMA Deputy Director, took a number of photographs and provided them for our use. The commissioners wanted to see in person the destruction which occurred to the farmground east of the river and how that would likely force an adjustment to the property valuations in that area.
Vlach said that the trip to that small portion of Nemaha County property took almost two hours each way because there was still no crossing the river except for by Plattsmouth or St. Joseph, Mo.

The transportation situation became less complicated with emergency repairs to U.S. Highways 136 and 2 leading into Missouri and Iowa from Brownville and Nebraska City.
Highway 2 was reopened to traffic at 4 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 24 with two-way traffic occupying the eastbound lane while repairs continue to the two westbound lanes.
The Missouri Department of Transportation announced late last week that it intended to possibly have Highway 136 open by around Thursday, Oct. 27 so drivers will be able to use the Missouri River bridge to cross into and out of Nebraska at Brownville. The bridge will likely remain one-lane as painting continues on the bridge structure. The repairs in place now on the almost three miles of Highway 136 east of Brownville are temporary and a more permanent solution to the damages left by the flooding will likely be implemented next year.