The Corps of Engineers increased the flow of water into the Coralville Reservoir Thursday, but officials are hopeful the water won’t go over the spillway anytime soon.
Johnson County Emergency Management spokesman Terrence Neuzil says the situation could change in the next few days depending on how much rain they get. “We can accommodate a certain amount of rainfall, but once the rain comes, there is the potential that it could go over the spillway and of course that happened in 2008,” Nuezil says. “If it goes over the spillway, it has a much different impact on communities downstream. We start to lose the ability to know where that water is going to go for awhile.”
One of those communities downstream is Iowa City. University of Iowa officials say all campus flood prevention measures were to be in place by the end of the day Thursday and that they will continue to monitor the weather and Iowa River throughout the holiday weekend. More rain is forecast Saturday.