MDC and DNR asking outdoorspeople for help in recovering containers orphaned after flooding

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News from the region
Statewide
Published Date
11/20/2019
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are asking Missouri hunters, anglers, hikers, campers, and others in the outdoors for help in the statewide effort to identify and recover orphaned storage containers dislodged by flooding.

DNR cautions that the containers must be handled by experts because they can hold an array of potentially dangerous substances, including fuel and agricultural chemicals.

Examples of flood-related orphaned containers include:

  • Pressurized cylinders and tanks,
  • Large propane and anhydrous ammonia tanks,
  • High-capacity above-ground storage tanks (multi-thousand gallons),
  • Small consumer-sized containers (5-gallon buckets),
  • Steel or plastic drums and barrels, and
  • Agricultural transport and storage containers.

According to MDC, outdoorspeople often hunt, fish, and enjoy other outdoor activities in more remote areas such as waterways and floodplains where orphaned containers have also been found. Outdoorspeople can help by reporting flood-related containers they find.

To report a flood-related orphaned container, call DNR’s Environmental Emergency Response Hotline at (573) 634-2436, or submit an online report to DNR at dnr.mo.gov/container-form.htm.

According to DNR, state-agency personnel and contractors have recovered more than 740 orphaned containers, many from public areas and flood-control levees in northwest Missouri. Approximately 21,500 gallons of liquid waste, including petroleum and agriculture chemicals, have been collected from orphaned containers and either recycled or safely disposed of, along with about 7,000 pounds of solid waste products.