Anthony Demby balances on a floating tree limb as he snags a volleyball awash in the Kansas River. Everything from refrigerators to livestock feeders have been spotted floating down the bloated Kansas River because of the recent floods in northeast Kansas. Demby found the volleyball Tuesday afternoon.

The Kansas River has become a gathering spot for Lawrence residents seeking a view of the bloated river.

Alfred Cramer and Lisa Bryson had been sitting on large, jagged rocks watching the rapid flow of the Kansas River when they suddenly realized they had close company.

“There was a snake and a muskrat, or something like a rat,” Cramer said of a couple of critters they saw crawling among the rocks near the river’s edge just east of the Bowersock Dam.

Cramer and Bryson decided it was time to move off the rocks to the dirt path behind them. They were among a steady stream of people who continued to gather Tuesday on the banks of the Kaw to watch the slowly receding river and the tremendous amount of debris it carried.

The river in Lawrence crested at 7 a.m. Tuesday when it reached 20.15 feet, according to the Douglas County Emergency Management Department. By noon it had dropped to 19.6 feet. It fell to 17.6 feet – below the 18-foot flood stage – by 6:30 p.m.

“We didn’t get as much rain as we thought we were going to,” said Bob Newton, emergency management spokesman.

In contrast, the 1993 flood crested at 26.8 feet, records show. In 1951, the crest was 25.1 feet.

Most streets and rural roads that were flooded Monday were open Tuesday, Newton said.

Late Tuesday afternoon, water was still over the road in the 200 section of North 2190 Road, making it impassable. Also still flooded was North 2050 Road between East 700 and East 800 roads. The east entrance to the Lakeview subdivision north of Lawrence at East 1125 Road and North 1876 Road was under water, although Lakeview’s west entrance was open.

River debris that had piled up along the north bank east of the dam also was breaking up. Most of the pile consisted of trees, branches and smaller pieces of wood, but floating on top of it was an oil or trash drum and a 5-gallon cooler. A variety of plastic bottles and tin and aluminum cans also bobbed in the water.

“If you don’t think the Kansas River is polluted, come on down,” Lawrence resident Jonathan Doerr said as he stood on the bank.

Standing next to him carrying a camera was Steve Dahlberg, also of Lawrence. Dahlberg said he was taking photographs to compare with those he took of the same site during the larger 1993 flood. Doerr and Dahlberg also saw snakes on the bank.

“We thought there was a copperhead over there, but someone said it was something else,” Dahlberg said, pointing to a now-vacant slab of rock.

The flood may cause more snake sightings near the river, but that doesn’t mean there are more of them, said John Simmons, collections manager in the division of herpetology at Kansas University’s Natural History Museum.

“It’s flooded out their usual places to sit and hide, so what it does is cause them to move around more looking for places to go,” Simmons said.

Water snakes in the Lawrence area are not venomous and there are no water moccasins in this area, which are venomous, Simmons said.

Douglas County declared a disaster area

Douglas County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously agreed to declare the county a disaster area as a result of recent flooding.

Commissioners – who made the declaration in a short meeting following a study session with city commissioners on an unrelated matter – said they were making the declaration disaster at the request of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

County Administrator Craig Weinaug said Sebelius had asked all counties where flooding occurred to make a disaster declaration. The disaster declarations will help the state make its case for a federal disaster declaration, which includes financial assistance.

Weinaug said he doubted Douglas County had suffered enough flood damage to be eligible for much financial assistance.