Keeping an eye on the river (Mighty Mo in flood stage, concerns are the levees)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100622/NEWS01/706229908#keeping-an-eye-on-the-river

Published Tuesday June 22, 2010

By Nancy Gaarder and Sarah Reinecke WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

Different day, different towns.

Same discouraging story.

More flooding. More hail. Another tornado.

Nebraska communities, mostly in the southeastern part of the state, spent Monday cleaning up from all three.

After five weeks of damaging weather, Nebraska emergency officials are bracing for another round of potentially life-threatening and property-swallowing storms and flooding.

Of particular concern is the Missouri River.

The river set a record at Rulo on Monday when it reached 25.75 feet, just above the previous record of 25.6 feet.

“Right now our concerns are the levees,” said Jim Gerweck, Richardson County's emergency manager. “The river's been high for a week, and if the water stays up ... some of those levees are going to be more at risk than they are now.”

Personnel at Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville have been preparing for flooding. However, based on current flood forecasts, it's not expected that the plant will have to shut down, said Mark Becker, a spokesman for Nebraska Public Power District.

Jody Farhat of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said that releases from upstream reservoirs on the Missouri River were nearly halved Sunday night to allow the river to subside.

That curtailment won't shave anything off the river's crest, she said, but should accelerate its drop at the end of this week. The curtailment should account for a drop of about 6 inches by the time the water arrives in southeastern Nebraska in a few days.

A nightly chance for storms remains in the forecast for the rest of the week, according to the National Weather Service.

FULL story at link.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Isn't this rather late in the year for flooding?

[Omaha Steve]

2. It's not from snow melt

It's from rain and more rain. It ties in with more violent storms caused by climate change. I posted a week ago or so about the increase in violent weather in the midlands.

[Wednesdays]

4. Heavy rains in Oklahoma causing the Arkansas River to crest

We got a foot of rain here in Oklahoma City on a single day last week, and there was heavy rain all over the state. That all flowed into the Arkansas River, which was as high as I've ever seen it...and that's headed to the Mississippi River within a few days or weeks.

[mnhtnbb]

3. We flew (hubby gen'l aviation pilot) over the 1993 flooding

returning from a family trip, to St. Joseph, MO, where we were living at the time. Landed at the airport, pilot was waiting to fly the plane out to high ground. We drove from airport to home past sand bags holding back the waters. That night the levee broke and the airport was underwater. The water treatment plant for St. Joseph was flooded and the big turbines powering the plant had to be airlifted by helicopter to Kansas City for drying out in special facilities. We were without water
for a week and got by using water from our pool for flushing toilets--bottled water for drinking/cooking.
Since it was summer, we spent a lot of time in the pool!

http://mo.water.usgs.gov/Reports/1993-Flood/photos.htm