‘The Landing’ is still standing in Van Buren

VAN BUREN Mo. (KBSI) – Owners of The Landing are glad to see it is still standing, after a severe storm swept through Ripley County on Sunday.

The Landing is a popular attraction along the Current River in Missouri that dates back to 1981. Family owner Jeremy Bedell says his business was running as it usually does on Memorial Day weekend until he noticed his renowned resort wasn’t the only attraction that caught visitor’s eyes… this time it was the severe storm that came through.

“It was very intimidating, very ominous to look at in the sky.” Said Bedell.

Bedell knew he had to act fast once he witnessed the possibility of a gruesome storm. He and the rest of his staff wanted to maintain the safety of the patrons, saying, “We think about their safety first. So, we have tome very safe concrete shelters on our basement level. And just encouraged everybody to take shelter.”

Once the storm cleared, Bedell noticed his business only received minor damages.

According to Bedell, “Quite a few limbs down, minor damages. Some trash cans, chairs, rails, some minor damages to the property. But our staff, for the last 2 days, has been working full time to be back in action.”

He says the staffed working hard to clean the property, so much so, that it now looks as is a storm never passed through.

According to the Emergency Management, the aftermath of Sunday’s storm caused flooding in Ripley County.

“With this recent rain, it was a pretty hard down pour, so the river came up quite a bit,” said Bedell.

Luckily, the river has already reached its highest point since the business has been temporarily closed. Now, however, the river has since gone back down to its normal levels.

“Everything’s good. We didn’t lose any of our equipment. All of our equipment is still intact. We were able to get it off the gravel bar and we’ll be ready to fully operate this weekend,” he added.

He says this business has seen worse, and his faith in The Landing will continue to be strong.

“It’s a mentality we have. In 2017, we had a record flood. In 2021, we had a fire and it doesn’t matter what kind of tornado comes at us, we’re going to overcome that also. So, we’ve deemed the term “come hell or high water… We’ll float this river,” said Bedell.