Third flood in North Loup; community suffers more

NORTH LOUP, Neb. — Flooding continues across several area of northern Nebraska. According to the National Weather Service, North Loup saw five inches of rain, which caused damage to homes and roads.

People in the area said before this year, it had been ten years since North Loup had any floods. However, alone in 2019 alone, there have been three.

As people started to recover from the March flooding, another wave hits, and again. Another flood began Friday night, August 3. It left people with little to no time to catch a break from floods.

North Loup resident Sally Schrader and her family have suffered through all storms. Her sister lost multiple properties.

"My sister... she's lost two houses, almost two houses. She's lost one back in March and she probably loses this one," said Schrader.

It's not just Sally's sister, it's people all over town that are losing homes.

"It's just heartbreaking to see how many families and home get ruined and we've had three floods in town in the last six months, so that's a lot of money and economic strife that goes on in town," said Schrader.

Valley County Highway Superintendent, Jay Meyer, said these floods have set back construction projects. However, he said they are in the process of applying for FEMA money to receive help on project damages.

"It's gonna set us back six weeks from what we're at. We were just finally starting to get to the point that we were catching up or maybe seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Now that's all gone," said Meyer.

Apart from road construction, Meyer and his team have been busy from the moment rain started falling August 3. They've placed barricades on streets and highways with high water levels.

"Well, we got everything up that needs to be barricaded. Just needs to dry out," said Meyer.

Apart from the floods, the people of North Loup are optimistic as they have something to look forward to in coming weeks.

"We got the Popcorn's day parade on Sunday's and everyone looks forward to it every year. No matter how much problems we go through in North Loup, no matter how many times we have issues, Popcorn days is one of the best times of the year," said Meyer.