The Missouri River at Omaha.
Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are predicting the above-normal runoff into the Missouri River basin will continue most of the summer.
Kevin Stom, an engineer in the Corps’ Omaha office, says it will not mean any widespread flooding along the waterway.
Stom says, “The 2017 calendar year runoff forecast for the Upper Missouri Basin above Sioux City, Iowa, is 29.9-million acre feet or 118 percent of average.” Now that we’re into the much-warmer weather of June, Stom says the remaining mountain snowpack will melt off quickly.
“During June, July and August, above-average runoff is forecast as a reflection of the above-average mountain snowpack and the increased chance for above-normal precipitation in the upper basin,” Stom says. “Runoff during the fall and winter months is forecast to be about normal.” The Corps has adjusted releases from Gavins Point Dam to make up the difference, boosting the amount of water being released in cubic feet per second, or CFS.
Stom says, “Based on this runoff forecast, the June 1 system storage and the tributary projected storage, the service level adjustment of 5,000 CFS which was established after our April 1 runoff forecast will continue through June.”
The monthly report from the Corps says only localized flooding is possible along the Missouri River basin due to heavy rain, mostly in the downstream region.
(By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton)