Motorists from Omaha and Lincoln bound for the Kansas City area are back to traveling a maze of detours as a new round of flooding shut down portions of Interstate 29 and other highways.
Those thoroughfares had only reopened in recent weeks following devastating flooding along the Missouri River in March. On Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Transportation said that I-29 is closed from Glenwood, Iowa, to the Missouri state line at Hamburg.
Iowa 2 — which connects the interstate to Nebraska City — is again closed because of flooding. New flooding has also closed U.S. 34 between the Nebraska state line and I-29.
Traffic cameras posted along the routes Wednesday showed water flowing over Iowa 2 and surrounding the truck stops, restaurants and hotels at the I-29 interchange.
The new flooding comes in the wake of recent heavy rains. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week stepped up releases from Gavins Point Dam upstream on the Missouri River.
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Floodwaters also closed a section of I-29 north of Omaha between the I-680 interchanges at Crescent and Loveland.
The stretches of I-29 closed between Kansas City and Sioux City, Iowa, will once again significantly increase traffic on two-lane roads, including U.S. 75 in Nebraska, heightening safety concerns in towns such as Auburn.
It's unclear how quickly floodwaters will recede.