The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does not plan to increase or decrease the amount of water discharges from its southernmost dam on the northern part of the Missouri River.
Corps officials said this week discharges from Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota will remain at 33,000 cubic feet per second in June, which is about average. This is due to the summer climate outlook indicating a return to warmer and drier conditions in the upper basin of the river.
There's nearly 80 percent of the river system flood control storage available, said John Remus, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.
"That means the reservoirs are well-positioned to capture and manage runoff from the mountain snowmelt and precipitation in the upper Missouri River basin," Remus said. "This also provides the Corps with some added flexibility to respond to rainfall events below the system."
Remus said soils are drying out in the upper basin following much wetter-than-normal conditions in 2018 and 2019. However, the potential for flooding remains, particularly in the lower river, due to the potential for locally heavy rain on the many uncontrolled tributaries downstream of the river's mainstem reservoir system.
The Missouri River in Jefferson City was at 21 feet Friday, 2 feet below the flood stage of 23 feet. The river was expected to fall to 18 feet by Sunday morning.