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Corps of Engineers to increase water releases through next week

By Katie Knapp Schubert

Omaha, NE – The Army Corps of Engineers plans to begin releasing 150,000 cubic feet per second of water from a South Dakota dam June 14.

The Corps' Omaha office updated the Missouri River flooding during a briefing Sunday afternoon. Ted Streckfuss is Deputy District Engineer for the Omaha office. He says once the Corps begins releasing that water from Gavins Point Dam, it'll raise the river level at Omaha to 34 to 36 feet. Flood stage at Omaha is 29 feet.

The levee at Omaha is 42 feet. Streckfuss says the release of 150,000 cubic feet per second of water will continue through August. The record release from Gavins Point Dam prior to this year was 70,000 cubic feet per second.

As of Sunday, the Missouri River was at 29.8 feet at Omaha. It's expected to reach 32 feet, three feet above flood stage, by Friday morning.

Farther south, two breaches in a levee in northwest Missouri prompted evacuations in Hamburg, Iowa.