Residents urged to evacuate due to record Missouri River flooding
source: http://www.kmeg14.com/story/14741671/press-releases-on-missouri-river-flooding
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- JanforGore
- added this
http://disasterrecovery.sd.gov
PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard announced today that, based on projections by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, all residents of Dakota Dunes should immediately begin making plans to evacuate later this week, due to Missouri River flooding.
Residents should have their possessions moved, homes secured and be out of those homes by late Thursday, June 2. They should expect to be away from their homes for as much as two months because elevated releases of water from the mainstem dams will continue for several weeks.
"State and local officials are coordinating to respond to this flooding, and we are considering all possible protective measures," Gov. Daugaard said. "Every property owner in Dakota Dunes should assume the worst – that protective measures will be impossible or will fail – and should act now to remove their possessions and secure their homes."
The Corps of Engineers now projects that, once water releases reach a maximum flow of 150,000 cubic feet per second (CFS), water levels in Dakota Dunes will reach 1,098 feet above sea level. That means protective measures should be built to 1,100 feet above sea level.
When will this begin and for how long will it last?
According to Corps' plans, water releases from Gavins Point Dam Dam will increase gradually beginning today and continue through the end of this week. Beginning next week, water releases will increase more rapidly and will reach a maximum of 150,000 CFS by mid-June.
Explanation of the cause:
Over the past several days, the Corps of Engineers dramatically increased its calculation of water releases required from the mainstem dams on the Missouri River. The Corps believes that this increased water release is necessary to avoid overtopping of the spillways.
Huge rainfalls in Wyoming, Montana, and western North Dakota and South Dakota over the past month have exceeded rainfall in a normal year. This has used capacity of the reservoir system that had been reserved to accommodate the annual snowmelt. In addition, mountain snowpack is 135 percent to 140 percent of normal, and it is melting at a later time. As a result, all the moisture will require the Corps to increase water flows to unprecedented levels.
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- groups:
- Community, Green, Earth and Science, Earth Care, 2 more
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- tags:
- Environment, Climate Change, Climate, Flooding, 3 more
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northernexpat
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Another disaster to contend with. When will the deniers recognize why there are so many storms and flooding. While the states and many parts of Canada are either floating or blowing away, we are as dry as a tinderbox in the Northwest Territories. Which means we will probably be facing major fires in the next few months.
Thanks for the update Jan. I certainly hope this is the last of it for a while, but I won't hold my breath.
- 12 months ago
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northernexpat
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JanforGore
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northernexpat:
Just like the wildifires in Russia again, the excessive drought in Asia and parts of Africa, the continuing rains in Colombia, etc. When you connect the global dots it gives a picture of a world being pushed over the edge. But your government will keep allowing tarsands, and the US will embrace them. Deforestation will rise because people just cannot connect the dots to how eating Big Macs is exacerbating this crisis. It is absolutely understandable to me why some who have been out here for so long telling others what is going to come would be completely exasperated by now. We have entered a stage of extremes and that is the red flag. But hey, nothing to see here, move on...This message brought to you by the American Petroleum Institute.
- 12 months ago
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JanforGore
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northernexpat
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JanforGore:
You've got that right. I am becoming increasing disenchanted that anything will be done in my lifetime. I really fear the world is coming to an end as we know it. The effects of the pollution that is going on right now, I believe, is unreversable even if we make major changes in pollution control today. So where does that leave us? The crop destruction, this year alone, is going to result in famine all around the world. Pretty soon there won't even be enough beans and rice available to feed even people in North America, let alone the third world countries.
- 12 months ago
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northernexpat
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JanforGore
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43174364/ns/weather/t/another-record-flood-time-miss...
Calling for more record flooding:
" The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is warning Missouri River states to brace for worsening floods, as it opens dams straining under the pressure of heavy spring rains and above-normal Rocky Mountain snowpack melt-off.
The warning raises the specter of a second bout of disruptive and potentially devastating flooding in an already soggy section of the country.
...The Missouri — crossing 10 states at it makes its way from Gallatin, Mont., to St. Louis, Mo. — is a major tributary of the Mississippi River, which has already experienced historic flooding this spring. Homeowners in Louisiana's Cajun country are still witnessing a slow rising tide of Mississippi River water diverted into their basin.
"There's no good news," said Jody Farhat, chief of the Corps' Missouri River Basin Water Management Division in Omaha, Neb.
Farhat said the Corps is approaching the top of the gauges at its three upper basin dams — Fort Peck in Montana, Garrison in North Dakota and Oahe in South Dakota.
"Basically, there is little or no storage left in our reservoirs," she said.
The record water releases are being triggered by steady rain in the northern Plains and an above-normal mountain snowpack.
For the area in and around Bismarck, N.D., Garrison releases began Monday and will be 30 percent more than the record set in 1975. The dam was built in the 1950s.
"It moves us into uncharted territory," Farhat said.:
- 12 months ago
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JanforGore
