Some residents of northwest Iowa are preparing for the worst flooding along the Missouri River in nearly 60 years. The Army Corps of Engineers plans to relieve pressure on reservoirs swollen by heavy rains and winter storm melt from Montana and the Dakotas.

The Missouri River is forecast to crest about five feet above flood stage in Sioux City, where Mayor Mike Hobart says they’re working closely with their colleagues across the river.

“We have individuals from city staff in Sioux City over helping in Dakota Dunes (South Dakota) and we’re working the best we can with South Sioux City (Nebraska),” Hobart said. “Obviously, everybody is very busy right now, so it’s hard to keep track of everyone, but the whole community is pulling together and we expect we’ll weather the storm.”

In Dakota Dunes, many of the town’s 2,500 residents are preparing for evacuations. In Sioux City, Chris Larson Park, the Anderson Dance Pavilion and a nearby Flight 232 Memorial have already been closed. Mayor Hobart expects other facilities will be shut down as the waters rise over the next week to 10 days.

Those facilities include a welcome center, the Hilton Garden Inn and Bev’s on the River and the Argosy Casino. Hobart also expects a few businesses will be flooded in the South Bridgeport Industrial Area and flooded basements in downtown Sioux City. Volunteers will gather outside the Longlines Family Center, from 6 to 9 tonight, for a “Sand Bag Jam.”

Organizers have set a goal of making 15,000 sandbags.

Windy weather is great for flying kites but not so much for flying planes. High winds are blamed for a minor airplane crash at the Sully Airport on Monday morning around 9. Winds pushed the plane off the runway during takeoff. It hit a tree.

The pilot and his teenage son were the only ones on board. Neither were seriously hurt. The plane had minor damage.

By Randy Van, KCOB, Newton

Campers say the Sunday storm that killed a Cedar Rapids teacher in her tent at Lake MacBride State Park near Solon moved in very quickly. Thirty-two-year-old Jennifer Lewis, a chemistry teacher at Kennedy High School, died when a tree fell on her tent. Campers Marsha Gallup and Richard Lawrence say there was little time to react to the storm.

Gallup says, “The winds picked up and branches were cracking.” Lawrence says, “I told my friends to get in the van and get out of the campground and come towards where there was no trees.” Gallup and her family spent the weekend camping on the south end of the lake, just a few sites over from where Lewis camped with her sister and friends.

Gallup says when the winds picked up, people ran for their cars or shower rooms to ride out the storm. Some campers, she said, left altogether. Park rangers drove through the campsites, shouting for campers to take shelter. The D.N.R.’s Joe Wilkinson says he’s not sure if wind or a lightning strike caused the tree to fall on Lewis’ tent.

Wilkinson says campers are encouraged to report hazardous trees. “Park users will point out whether it’s on a trail or in the campground, saying, ‘Hey, this could be a problem,’ and we take care of that first,” he says. Wilkinson says the park rangers get to all of the limbs they can as quickly as possible.

He says, “At the same time, you can’t pick out every branch and every possiblity that could go wrong.” Wilkinson says park officials are at the campgrounds seven days a week, looking for hazards like rotting limbs or fallen trees. In this case, the DNR official says the tree that fell was just beyond the fence line on a neighboring private property, but nothing indicated the tree might be a danger to campers.

Wilkinson encourages anyone spending time at the campsite this summer to think about a safety plan to protect themselves if severe weather hits.

By Jillian Petrus, KCRG, Cedar Rapids