Flood — Boyd, Nebraska

2019-03-13 to 2019-03-14 · near Butte, Boyd, Nebraska

Event narrative

The Highway 11 bridge across the Niobrara River about 5 miles south of Butte is closed due to flooding. An ice jam produced large ice blocks that remained at the time of NWS storm survey.

Wider weather episode

Historical flooding occurred in north central Nebraska as rivers, creeks and other streams rose due to the combination of snow, rain, and rapid snow melt on top of frozen ground. The greatest flooding occurred along the Niobrara, Keya Paha, Elkhorn and Loup Rivers; Ponca, Long Pine, Victoria and Cedar creeks; and one fatality occurred from the failure of Spencer Dam that is located on the Niobrara River. In addition to the Spencer Dam failure, several privately owned dams failed. The failure of these private dams contributed to additional overland flooding and most likely exacerbated the flooding in localized areas that led to community evacuations. The combination of weather elements on ice in the rivers led to increased runoff and rapid breakup of ice. Large ice chucks on several rivers destroyed or damaged river bridges, to include state, county and private owned bridges in several counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.8476, -98.8500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 813208. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.