The amount of water flowing into the lower Missouri River will remain high throughout the summer and fall, and that water will likely continue to exacerbate flooding downstream.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it plans to keep releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border near current levels — which are more than double the average amount.
The high releases will likely continue worsening flooding downstream — in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas — where many levees were damaged during severe March flooding.
Officials say the releases of 70,000 cubic feet per second of water are needed because the upstream reservoirs remain quite full. The amount of water entering the dams in June was 159 percent of normal, and it has been a wet year.
