Officials: Rain, high reservoir releases to mean wet summer

The continued threat of rain and higher-than-normal reservoir releases into the Missouri River will hinder the draining of flooded fields and delay repairs on damaged levees.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service say that although water levels on the river have dropped below the flood stage in most places, rain over the next week could cause parts of the river to rise as much as two feet from Rulo, Nebraska, to where it meets the Mississippi River in St. Louis.

Increased reservoir releases are also keeping wet land from drying out.

Officials say that releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will remain at 75,000 cubic feet per second until next Thursday, when they plan to drop that amount to 70,000 cubic feet per second.

That’s still about twice the normal amount for the this time of year.