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Flood gates closed along Omaha riverfront

Water rises on to the platform of the labor statue on the Omaha riverfront.
Photo by Katie Knapp Schubert/KIOS-FM
Water rises on to the platform of the labor statue on the Omaha riverfront.

By Katie Knapp Schubert

Omaha, NE – Flood gates have been installed at Lewis and Clark landing in Omaha as the Missouri river rises to near-record levels.

Omaha Public Works officials closed the flood gates Sunday. Flood stage at Omaha is 29 feet. Public Works Director Bob Stubbe says the river is expected to remain at that stage through Tuesday as the Corps of Engineers gradually releases water from the Gavins Point Dam. A Flood Warning is in effect for the Missouri river at Omaha until further notice.

Omaha Public Works employees also began sandbagging Sunday at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Flooding caused Omaha's Parks and Recreation department to close NP Dodge Park Thursday. Parks Director Melinda Pearson says Freedom Park could close next.

The record flood stage at Omaha is 30.3 feet, set in 1993. Stubbe says additional releases of water from the Gavins Point Dam, on the Nebraska-South Dakota border, will send the river level to near 34 feet in Omaha by the end of June. At 30 feet, flood walls are installed at the riverfront.

In Bellevue, Haworth Park is closed due to rising water. City officials say water is over the road at the Haworth Park marina and is seeping in to the park.

In pictures: flooding along the Omaha riverfront