Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Things still look dry as a bone right here around our house, however we were out and about today so we got to cross the Missouri River at Rulo on our way to Falls City. Yes, the river is definitely full--spilling out into the low parts on the Nebraska side. On the Missouri side, the levee is holding at the moment, although there's not a lot of room for rising waters. There's also some seepage water in the ditches and fields in Missouri right by the river. Beyond that, things look normal, if not a bit on the too dry side. 

In other news, the Army Corps of Engineers (the ones in charge of opening the floodgates of those 6 dams up north) released the following information: "In the James River Basin water levels are continuing to gradually decline through to Yankton, South Dakota..."  At this point, I think this news sounds great! Yeah, a decline in water, we must be making progress...right??  The statement continues, "With average precipitation, the water in the flood control storage zones will be evacuated by....."  Now, at this point, I'm thinking whatever comes next should be something like, "...in a week." or even "...by the end of June." I mean really, the first part of this statement makes it sound like they're making real and significant progress.  So you can understand my shock when I read the rest of the statement, "...late August."

Here, let me recap in case you missed that, "...the water in the flood control storage zones will be evacuated by LATE AUGUST." Y'all, that's 12 weeks. That means maximum water release for 3 months. This is not how I wanted to spend my summer, particularly the entire summer.

That statement was followed by this one, "This may take longer if abnormally high rain occurs." 

Here's the kicker...this dam, at its maximum, will be releasing 150,000 cfs of water. Adding to  that is the water coming out of other tributaries downstream like the Platte River. This results in an estimated 210,000 cfs to 290,000 cfs passing thru Rulo. What does that look like? If you're a visual learner like me, that looks like a football field covered to the depth of 4.5 to 6 feet deep.   EVERY SECOND. Apparently from now until LATE AUGUST. Maybe longer if abnormally high rain occurs. That's a lot of water.

Hence, the dike around my house.

Speaking of which, here's a video of the {almost} completed dike going around our place. You'll have to imagine it behind my backyard. (This does show how the highway sits higher than anything around us, if you've never been to our place.)

And other than the above bright and cheery news, things are looking A-OK here so far, but apparently we're in for a flood...of course that's what everyone's been telling me all along!