Army Corps Monitoring Water Levels in Platte County
Officials at the Kansas City District, US Army Corps of Engineers
continue to monitor the runoff following the storms which saturated the area over
the weekend. According to latest readings, the district forecasts the federal levee
system will operate as designed.
Using the latest predictions provided by the National Weather Service, the district
does anticipate flood stages being surpassed below Kansas City as the crest moves
across Missouri over the next few days.
The district commander, Col. Michael Rossi, has deployed to various locations
throughout the basin to engage local agencies and provide Corps support to their
efforts.
“While it is important to note the integrity of the federal levees throughout the
system are currently being shown as sound, we are focused on helping our other
federal and state partners as we manage this storm event and minimize flood
damages.”
Jud Kneuvean, the Levee Rehabilitation Inspection program manager for the Corps,
said currently the focus seems to be from Kansas City north to Rulo, Neb., but as
the crest moves downstream, the Corps’ efforts will focus on affected areas as
necessary. Flood stages are anticipated below Kansas City and move towards St. Louis
into next week.
In the last 24-hours district personnel have helped deploy more than 524,000
sandbags and a few pumps to cities and local levee districts throughout the area to
support local flood damage prevention efforts. The Corps is only authorized to
provide sandbags and pumps to cities and local levee districts. Private citizens
should contact their local levee district and emergency management offices for
assistance in getting these materials.
“We are not making any releases from any of our 18 Kansas City District lakes until
the water goes below the flood control points,” said Sue Gehrt, battle captain of
the Emergency Operations Center for the Corps. “We may resume releases by the end of
the week depending on river stages and weather conditions. We also have technical
support teams to federal levees to assist local levee districts and cities.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will continue to update the affected regions on the
response as information comes in. The EOC will be operating 24 hours until the
determination has been made that it is no longer necessary. For current information
call (816) 426-6320 or (816) 389-2427.
For more information from the Corps regarding the management of the storm runoff,
visit the district Flood 2007 web page at www.nwk.usace.army.mil, click on “Flood
2007 Information.”
Additional online links to water levels can be found at www.crh.noaa.gov. Click on
the link titled “Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service.”
For the past 100 years, the Kansas City District has been providing flood damage
reduction and related support to the heartland. For more information, call the
Kansas City District Public Affairs office at (816) 389-3486.
www.nwk.usace.army.mil