OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The amount of water being released into the Missouri River from a dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border is being decreased because less water is expected to flow into the river this year, so the risk of a repeat of last year's massive flooding along the river has been reduced, officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point Dam is being reduced to 30,000 cubic feet (849.50 cubic meters) per second. That's down from last month's 33,000 cubic feet (934.46 cubic meters) per second.
That reduction is possible because the region received less precipitation than expected this spring and the summer is expected to be drier than normal. The corps now estimates that 31.2 million acre feet (38.48 cubic kilometers) of water will flow down the river this year. That is roughly 1 million acre feet lower than the previous forecast although it is still above the average of 25.8 million acre feet (31.82 cubic kilometers).
Flooding caused more than $3 billion in damage along the lower Missouri River last year as releases from dams upstream combined with heavy runoff from rain and melting snow to damage levees and inundate land along the river.