The swollen Missouri River has forced Lupus residents to swap one mode of transportation in order to reach their homes.
"It's pretty wet over there," said Noland Porter, Moniteau County associate commissioner, who said residents have switched from automobiles to boats. "You can't even get into Lupus because the water's over the road. It (the river level) is about at 33 feet, so it got pretty well flooded."
The nearest National Weather Service tracking stations for the Missouri River are at Boonville and Jefferson City.
On Tuesday, the Missouri River in Boonville was at 33.4 feet. In Jefferson City, the river was at 33 feet. At both cities, the river was expected to stay at those levels through Thursday before potentially falling. The river is not expected to get down to 24 feet, near flood stage, until June 15. Flood stage is 21 feet in Boonville and 23 feet in Jefferson City.
The river's penchant for leaving its banks around Lupus isn't all that uncommon; nearly all the homes are elevated about 15 feet.
"This happens pretty regularly," Porter said. "So far I don't think there have been any injuries. But I know they haven't raised the church there, so they were sandbagging it last week."
The floodwaters have also reached Missouri 179, which winds through Sandy Hook and Marion. As of June 3, the incursion of water in Sandy Hook and Marion was still manageable; the river had only risen slightly above the banks.
"The county roads weren't made for this kind of traffic, so we've been keeping extra maintenance on that," Porter said. "Other than that, it's just been a lot of grading."
More rain is expected to hit Moniteau County during the week. At the most, Porter said, the county should get 2-3 inches in some areas and 5 in others.
"That's a lot of rain for everything already saturated," he said. "But in a month or two, we'll be wishing we had all this. It can dry up in a hurry."
Porter said the number of farmers in the area who have planted their crops is understandably low. Some farmers even have insurance for this issue.
"It's Missouri, though," he said. "You can wake up in a different world every morning. It's always something different."