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Full flood control capacity on MO River reservoir system
The Army Corps of Engineers says the full flood control capacity of the Missouri River’s mainstem reservoir system is available for the 2021 runoff season. John Remus is chief of the Corps’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. He told stakeholders and reporters Thursday, “The reservoir system is in very good shape from both a flood control and a flow support point of view.”
The first half of the runoff season begins April 1st at the mouth of the Missouri River in St. Louis. Remus says 2020 was somewhat of a transition year…
“Two-thousand-twenty began with above average run-off in the upper basin. However, as the year progressed much of the basin entered into a drought. This required a shift in our management focus from evacuational flood water to meeting downstream flow targets.”
Remus says all 2020 flood water stored in the annual flood control zone was evacuated as of December 21st. Because of drier-than-normal soil moisture conditions in the upper Missouri Basin above Sioux City, he says the 2021 calendar year runoff forecast is 90% of average. The Corps will update the forecast next month.
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