City officials are advising the public stay away from Haworth Park while water samples are tested for possible contamination.
Public Works Director Jerry Hare said the city took samples last week and expects to receive the results of the general tests sometime next week. He said the county flood team is concerned about the raw sewage that was pumped into the Missouri River during the flood.
"We just want to see what we're dealing with before we start to have people in there," Hare said.
Hare said that anyone going into the park for official business is being told to cover their shoes and wear masks for breathing. He said the park has an odor and still has a lot of standing water and some running river water.
Haworth appears to have sustained heavy damaged during the flood, with the park's rose trellis torn and twisted and about half of the Children's Lewis and Clark Interpretive Art Wall washed out by the river. Sections of the park's road are broken, and a least one portion was demolished by the flooding.
While Haworth remains closed indefinitely, the Bellevue Loop Trail will be closed for the rest of the year due to safety reasons stemming from this summer's flooding.
The Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District said the trail, which runs along the top of the R-616 levee, will be closed throughout the remainder of 2011. The district said water remained at 1 or 2 feet along the levees last week, with the river expected to drop below flood stage by Oct. 1.
The R-616 levee, which serves as the base of the Loop Trail, begins along Highway 370 near Haworth Park and runs around Base Lake along the Missouri River south to the Papillion Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, then along Papillion Creek past Highway 75 south of Offutt Air Force Base to Capehart Road.
Both the R-616 levee and the R-613 levee — which runs along the southern bank of Papillion Creek south of the Tregaron Golf Course to the Missouri River and south from the confluence of the Missouri and Platte rivers to Highway 75 and along the Platte River to Highway 75 — will require minor repairs, cleanup and silt removal, according to the resources district.
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