SIOUX CITY -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tuesday announced that it will increase the water releases at the Gavins Point Dam near Yankton to 155,000 cubic feet per second on Wednesday, June 22, and 160,000 cfs Thursday, June 23. The announcement came during a regularly scheduled call with the agency that controls water flow along the Missouri River."Once they started talking 160,000 releases out of Oahe, I figured that at some point that same amount has to come out of Gavins," he said. "We built our levees to 1,100 (feet above sea level). I think the current (river) elevation is 1,095. I guess this will add 6 inches to that.
"But this puts that much more pressure on the levee and that much more current. The 3-inch rain we got last night created some interior drainage issues. Problems crop up. You deal with them."
1-FOOT RISE
Col. Robert Ruch, commander of the corps' Omaha District, said the 10,000 cfs increase from Gavins Point and high tributary rivers will combine to raise the Missouri River level about a foot in Sioux City.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, the river was at 34.23 feet, above the 30-flood stage. The corps has predicted in recent weeks that the river would peak at 35 to 37 feet at Sioux City.
The river will swell first from the tributary flow, he said, then maintain that level because of the additional Gavins Point discharge.
Despite the increases from Gavins Point, the corps does not plan to increase flows at all of the dams along the river.
Farhat said the current plan calls for a reduction at Fort Randall dam, from 143,000 cfs to 138,000 cfs, and from Oahe Dam, which will be reduced from 160,000 cfs to 150,000 cfs.
Flows will increase at Big Bend Dam, which will discharge 165,000 cfs today and for the next seven to 10 days, Farhat said.
Unlike the past few days, the forecast looks much drier after today. According to the National Weather Service, there's a 50 percent chance of rain today in Sioux City but then little more than a 20 to 30 percent chance of rain through Saturday.
The forecast was similar for cities in western, northeast and Southeast South Dakota.
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