OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A news release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says runoff in the upper Missouri River basin and releases of the Gavins Point Dam will remain high for a number of months.
June runoff in the upper basin was 8.7 million acre feet (MAF), which is 159% of the average runoff. The runoffs of the reaches between Fort Randall to Gavins Point and Gavins Point to Sioux City were approximately three and four times the average runoff.
For 2019, the upper basin runoff forecast total is 49.9 MAF. If the forecast goes as predicted, this runoff total would be the second highest in 121 years of record-keeping--second to 2011's total of 61.0 MAF.
“System releases from Gavins Point Dam are currently 70,000 cfs, which is more than twice the average release for this time of the year. We will maintain Gavins Point releases at this rate to continue evacuating water from the Missouri River mainstem reservoir system,” says John Remus, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.
The Gavins Point Damn system was storing 68.0 MAF as of July 1. Because of high reservoir levels and the forecast of above-average runoff during the summer and fall, releases from all system projects are planned to be above average for the next several months.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says levels could stay above average as late as November to ensure evacuation of all stored flood waters.
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