National Weather Service Meteorologist Steve Runnels said Wednesday that between 4-6 inches of rain fell yesterday across the White River Basin, which includes Branson.
“We were fortunate in that we did not have a repeat activity last night,” Runnels says. “It fell just to the west of that area.”
Runnels continues, “We’re going to give you a little bit of a dry spell over the next three days. It’s going to get hot—another summertime hazard here in the Ozarks—and then we’re going to go back into the rainfall next week.”
According to data from the NWS, places south of Springfield have had more than 3 inches of rain today.
Gov. Jay Nixon, speaking Wednesday at the Springfield office of NWS, said the month of June was one of the wettest on record, and July is off to a similar start. Nixon had declared a state of emergency on June 18 due to the heavy rains, flooding and flash flooding throughout the state.
“Based on what our joint teams initial findings are we’re clearly going to have enough damage to request the president declare a major disaster,” Nixon says. “We’ve got to get those assessments done first before we do that.”
Nixon says the assessments will have to be made after next week’s weather events are over. The governor also says although rescues have been made, he does not wish to call upon the National Guard.
The governor has yet to visit places like Roaring River State Park, Cassville and Branson - all affected by flooding - but plans to visit damaged sites in the area within the next 24 to 48 hours.
