Flood in Antelope County, Nebraska

Rainfall of at least 3 to 5 inches fell over much of the upper Elkhorn River basin in the week ending 7am 6/12. This caused record or near record flooding along the Elkhorn River from around Clearwater and Neligh downstream to the Elkhorn's confluence with the Platte River which was prolonged by additional rains the next few days. In Antelope county many gravel roads along the Elkhorn were flooded as was Highway 275 between Neligh and Clearwater. A county board member estimated that one 2 mile stretch of road sustained up to $4 million in damage. Extensive sandbagging around the town of Clearwater saved some homes and businesses from damage, but around 100 still suffered flood damage, and 7 or 8 were probably a total loss. Homes in Neligh were also flooded and at least one water evacuation was made in the Neligh area. The park in Neligh sustained damage and a historic swinging bridge was wrenched loose and washed away by flood waters. For a while water approached the landing strip at the Neligh airport and washed out the road leading to it in several places. Farm fields along the river also sustained major damage to crops and had land covered in sand as the river receded. More than 100,000 acres of agricultural land were affected by flood waters in Antelope county. The Elkhorn River near Neligh reached a record crest of around 15.5 feet at 1230am CDT on June 15th, flood stage is 10 feet. The river at Neligh was above flood stage from around noon on the 13th through early evening on the 17th and the high water cut new channels of the river across Antelope county.

An upper level trough over the western U.S. pushed a cold front into central Nebraska during the overnight hours of June 11th and 12th. This system brought scattered heavy-rain producing thunderstorms to eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. For many areas it was the 3rd day-in-a-row with significant or heavy rain. Many locations from central into northeast Nebraska received 3 to 4 inches or more rainfall in the 72 hours ending the morning of the 12th. This additional heavy rain fell on saturated soils from rainfall prior to the 10th and prolonged, intensified or increased the coverage of flooding across eastern Nebraska and helped shift the flooding to larger rivers. Flood damage over Nebraska in mid to late June amounted to at least 20 million dollars to public property alone and which did not account for damage to private property or crops. The White House declared a federal disaster for 53 counties in Nebraska for June flooding.