KDSN Radio

The Army Corps of Engineers has deployed four surveilance teams to check levies along the Missouri River, but the Corps is predicting minor to moderate flooding along the Missouri below Sioux City. John Remusis the Army Corps of Engineers chief of water management for the Missouri River basin.

 

"As long as the levies hold, we are not expecting any major impacts. There will be some interior drainage issues," Remus says. "There are some communities that do not have levies. We have not heard from them."

 

The Missouri River in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro is expected to crest sometime Wednesday night or Thursday morning. The crest as the river exits Iowa near Nebraska City is expected to occur on Thursday night. Kevin Lowe is a National Weather Service hydrologist who coordinates Missouri River forecasts.

 

"We do expect flooding to happen along almost the entire Missouri River mainstem," Lowe says.

 

If forecasted river levels hold, officials say it's likely levies along the river will work as designed. Spencer Giles is the emergency management chief for the Omaha district of the Army Corps of Engineers. He says the Corps provided technical assistance to officials in Dickinson and Buena Vista Counties this weekend and are ready to provide supplies where needed.

 

"We maintain an inventory of various flood fighting materials and equipment positioned throughout the district," he says. In Dickinson County, the water level in Big Spirit Lake is more than a foot above its normal high water mark and Highway 9 between Lake Park and Spirit Lake remains closed due to flooding.