Sunday, May 29, 2011

More Montana flooding means larger dam releases downstream

Major rainfall on Saturday, May 28 in Montana has worsened statewide flooding. As many people are saying, some areas of the state have received a years worth of rain in just a few weeks.

Saturday evening, the Corps of Engineers released revised reservoir release projections, and levels continue to press higher.

In short, lower reservoirs, including Gavin's Point Dam which releases into the freeflowing Lower Missouri River, will be releasing 150,000 cubic feet per second (cfs)by mid-June. This is much higher and faster than predicted just a few days ago.

It is beginning to appear that, as the Corps tries to spread the most accurate up to date information so affected communities can plan, each significant storm or rain event will cause predictions to jump again.

Emergency management agencies from the local to federal level are scrambling to keep informed of changing conditions and trying to understand their impact.

What is clear - many communities will see unprecedented flood heights, and the flooding will last for months to come as water is moved out of the reservoir system.

The flow of flood related news has become a flood of its own, and I won't attempt to keep up with the daily flood news in this blog. We're changing the focus of the blog to posting the latest predictions relevant to the whole basin and stories that help understand the scale of the event.

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