The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reversed course will increase releases from Yankton’s Gavins Point Dam on the Missouri River back to thirty thousand cubic feet per second by the end of the week.
The Corps had dropped the flow to 27,000 CFS to allow the elevation of Lewis & Clark Lake to rise about four feet.
Gavins Point Project Manager Tom Curran says they have never seen winter releases this high in the winter:
OC……winter time as well :14
Curran says ice between the upstream Ft. Randall Dam and Gavins Point caused the lower Yankton lake level:
OC…..to the Lewis & Clark Lake :13
Curran says they haven’t seen any flooding problems below Ft Randall Dam yet:
OC……would be :22
The Corps is projecting releases staying at thirty thousand cubic feet per second for at least the next several weeks.
The higher flows are part of their plan to have more flood storage space in upstream reservoirs.
Jerry Oster WNAX
