After days of heavy rain fell on frozen ground throughout the Omaha area, a sudden thaw began on March 15, triggering a “bomb cyclone” event. Rivers and creeks rapidly flooded and the levees adjacent to the Papillion Creek Water Resource Recovery Facility were overtopped, forcing staff to shut down power and evacuate the wastewater treatment facility as floodwaters began to inundate it. Access roads were quickly submerged, and a majority of the 260-acre facility was covered in feet of water, rendering the plant’s critical infrastructure unusable.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported record precipitation across the Northern Plains, Great Lakes and portions of the Central Plains in 2019. It was also the second consecutive wettest year ever for the Midwest with 46.09 in. of precipitation—3 in. more than the previous record of 43.06 set in 2018. Across the entire Midwest, the flooding caused $6.2 billion in damage. Much of that runoff went directly to the Missouri River, which suffered breaches throughout Nebraska.