In February, long-range forecasts from the National Weather Service in St. Louis predicted higher-than-normal levels on the Missouri River could last until November.
It looks like the forecast could be right.
During the weekly update on river conditions, officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the discharges at Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota, the southern most Corps dam on the northern end of the Missouri River, would continue to release water at a rate of 70,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) through September.
The Corps has kept that discharge rate since mid-July. Heavy rains throughout last month prompted the Corps to continue higher than normal releases to increase flood-storage capacity at its northern end dams.
More active rainfall patterns are predicted over the next week along the Missouri River basin, and as of Friday, the river was forecast to go up to near 22 feet Tuesday in Jefferson City after staying at around 18 feet for most of last week.
Corps officials also reported 181 requests for help with levee repairs had been made; 64 have been approved so far. The estimate for the cost to repair the levees is $1 billion.
Last week, survey teams completed damage checks at the Capital View Levee, which protects North Jefferson City. The levee suffered many breaches during this year's flooding. Corps officials said they were confident the damage was sufficient to meet the criteria for the levee district to get funding to help make repairs.
Levees can be built back to their pre-flood conditions, according to current rules that Corps follows, but a long-term study to be done all along the Missouri could lead to moving current levees or making them higher.
The Corps estimates it has spent $66 million so far to help states and local communities in save property during this year's floods. This doesn't include any money that would go to repairing levees, but rather is for things such as sand, sandbags and pumps.