Columbia residents are raising concerns about how effectively local agencies handle flooding, citing confusion about the city map.
Columbia consists of roads managed by the City of Columbia Utilities, Boone County Office of Emergency Management, and the Missouri Department of Transportation. That's because the city has many enclaves of county land surrounded by land the city has annexed over time.
While both the city and county say they coordinate on water management and emergency response, some community members aren’t convinced the system is working as intended.
Photos circulating on social media show water-filled potholes across multiple roads following heavy rainfall earlier this month. Multiple roads in Boone County closed due to flooding that followed, and residents argue these conditions suggest a lack of timely response and effective coordination between agencies.
Officials maintain that communication channels are in place, but concerns from the public are prompting renewed questions about whether the current division of resources based on geographic location in the city is enough to address recurring flooding problems.
Boone County Storm Water Coordinator Nikki Reinhart said if citizens have concerns or questions, they're always welcome to call either the county or the city for assistance.
“You know, sometimes people just aren't aware,” Reinhart said. “When they report a problem to Boone County, they think, well, ‘I may live in the city limits of Columbia, but I'm still in Boone County.’”
However, Reinhart said private roads are the responsibility of the owners to maintain when flooding occurs.
Columbia Assistant Director of Sewer and Stormwater Utilities Tom Ratermann said the I-70 construction also affects water drainage.
“It's affecting sanitary sewer, storm water, electric drinking water, the railroad,” Ratermann said. “I don't think there's a city utility that is unaffected by the I-70 expansion.”
Even after these expansions are complete, flooding is expected to increase in Missouri.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Report for Missouri, “spring rainfall and average precipitation are likely to increase" in the state, which “will tend to further increase the risk of flooding.”
