ArgusLeader.com | South Dakota Sen. John Thune seeks clarification on flood insurance
6:55 AM, Jun. 29, 2011
PIERRE SD — Sen. John Thune has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to clarify how the National Flood Insurance Program applies to the current flooding along the Missouri River.
FEMA has determined that the flood started on June 1 when water releases were increased from Garrison Dam in North Dakota. Officials have said because flood insurance does not take effect until 30 days after it’s purchased, policies bought after May 2 will not cover damages from the continuing high water releases from Missouri River dams.
Thune wants to know whether flood insurance bought after that date might cover events intertwined with the Missouri River flood, such as a levee breach or flooding on a tributary to the Missouri River. Thune asked FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate to reply by Friday.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20110629/UPDATES/110629006/Sen-John-Thune-seeks-clarification-flood-insurance?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
VIDEO ARNIE GUNDERSEN - June 28, 2011
Uploaded by enenews on Jun 28, 2011
Arnie Gundersen on Five O'clock Shadow with Robert Knight, WBAI, June 28, 2011 at 5:00 pm EDT:
Intake structure probably the most vulnerable, not auxiliary and containment buildings.
Intake structure draws in river water that cools reactor and spent fuel pool... critical that it stay dry.
If gets water in it and emergency service water pumps fail then you've got a case where you're going to cause fuel damage... probably the most vulnerable...
http://www.yankton.net/
GAVINS POINT DAM READINGS: 6/29/2011Published:
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 1:13 AM CDT- Lake Temperature — 67
- Lake Elevation — 1,206.47
- Lake Discharge — 160,000 cfs
- Tailwater — 1,171.96
LIVE Web Cam of Gavins Point Dam
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gavins-point-dam#utm_campaign=synclickback&source=http://www.yankton.net/flooding/&medium=8433034
NORTH DAKOTAMontana snowmelt provides optimismBISMARK TRIBUNE Bismark, North Dakota - Nature has been merciless with the amount of snow and rain it delivered to the Rocky Mountains and Northern Plains this past spring, but so far the melting mountain snowpack has been easy on flood-affected areas.
"We're probably closer to the best-case scenario than we are to the worst," said Marc Singer, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, Mont.
He said that the relatively cool temperatures this month have made for a slower melt in the mountains, keeping back larger river flows that could have been caused by rapid melting.
"The temperatures have not been too hot for too long," he said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been reducing its planned releases ahead of schedule this week. On Tuesday, it announced plans to lower release rates to 140,000 cubic feet per second on Friday, nine days earlier than it was planning Monday. The corps also is forecasting inflows to be below outflows by Sunday. It plans to bring releases down to 120,000 cfs by July 18.
The corps' forecast is available at www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/reports/twout.html.
According to corps spokesman Carlos Lazo, of the snowpack that enters the system upstream from the Fort Peck reservoir, 27 percent remains to melt, and 29 percent of the snowpack that enters the system downstream from Fort Peck remains.
The snowpack at elevations of 6,000 to 7,000 feet has melted, as has most of the snow between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, according to Singer. The snowpack between 8,000 and 9,000 feet will likely melt over the next week as temperatures in Montana reach the 90s.
"I'd expect most of that to come out this week," he said.
Weather Service hydrologic predictions show rivers in the Missouri system rising into flood stage but falling quickly as melting snow passes through the system.
Allen Schlag, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, said that flows on Yellowstone River, which joins the Missouri upstream from Williston, will rise and fall as the melt continues, but are not likely to reach the levels they were at in late May when they reached 200,000 cfs. Missouri River flows upstream from the Fort Peck Dam in Montana also have been on a downward trend.
"We have been seeing a pretty gentle melt in the mountains," Schlag said. "We do have reasons for optimism on the Missouri that most of the worst is probably behind us."
RELATED:KDLT Sioux Falls SD | Water Releases Dropping at Garrison Dam in North Dakota
http://www.kansascity.com/
They’ve worked all month to protect tracks — in one instance raising the rails as much as 5 feet and building levees on both sides of the line — to keep coal, automobiles and parts, consumer goods and other freight moving south toward Kansas City and elsewhere. BNSF Railway has rerouted coal shipments bound for Kansas City through Colorado and western Kansas because its line from Nebraska was flooded.
Railroad traffic coordinators have rerouted around other flooded rail lines and halted service to some markets, including St. Joseph, for fear of trapping rail cars behind flooded tracks.
Planners are evaluating routes farther down river in anticipation of flooding in the days ahead.
“We just don’t know how high it’s going to get,” said Mark Davis, a spokesman at Union Pacific Corp.’s Omaha headquarters.
For trucking companies, the stretch of Interstate 29 closed by high water north of Rockport, Mo., has prompted a detour that adds scores of miles to the trip from Kansas City to Omaha. Traffic is being rerouted up Interstate 35 to Interstate 80 near Des Moines and then west Omaha.
READ MORE:
MISSOURI RIVER MAIN STEM SYSTEM MAP
http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/html/op-e/flood2011/Flood_Press_Packet_Jun_2011_QR.pdf- Missouri River Watershed
- Operations Projects - Area Offices
NOAA Hydrologic - Water Level at Gavins Point Dam, near Ft. Calhoun and Cooper Nuclear Plants
(The following link takes a bit to load all data)
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/river.php?wfo=oax&wfoid=18705&riverid=203276&view=1%2C1%2C1%2C1%2C1%2C1%2C1%2C1&toggles=10%2C7%2C8%2C2%2C9%2C15%2C6&pt[]=141614&pt[]=144183&pt[]=142396&pt[]=143355&allpoints=143990%2C145585%2C145025%2C145026%2C144876%2C145027%2C143234%2C143184%2C145519%2C145640%2C144217%2C142150%2C142780%2C142853%2C145202%2C141586%2C144582%2C143543%2C144796%2C144098%2C144240%2C141320%2C141614%2C142968%2C144183%2C142574%2C143478%2C142193%2C142760%2C142003%2C142610%2C142396%2C144496%2C147345%2C141899%2C143355%2C142050%2C141570%2C144165%2C143476%2C141703%2C142023%2C144123%2C141863%2C143539%2C143436%2C141917%2C143009%2C142688%2C142640%2C143925%2C143734%2C142729%2C141978%2C143579%2C143348%2C142822&data[]=all&submit=Make+my+River+Page%21#bron1
BLAIR, NEBRASKA NEAR FT. CALHOUN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
BROWNVILLE, NE - NEAR COOPER NUCLEAR PLANT
RESERVOIR CONTROL CENTER REPORTSThe following is the latest Reservoir Readings on the Upper Missouri River - Sunday June 26, 2011. This report is updated daily. Click on the picture for today's readings in reference to Gavins Point Dam, Ft. Randall Dam in SD, Big Bend Dam in SD, Oahe Dam in SD, Garrison Dam in ND and Fort Peck in Mt.
Link to daily report:
http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/reports/showrep.cgi?3MRDTAP7June 29, 2011
The Cave's Archive: NW DIVISION OF THE US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS RESERVOIR CONTROL CENTER DAILY REPORT
Link: THE CAVE'S OVERFLOW - Archive of the Cave's Daily Flood of 2011 Updates
