Missouri River

[skinzfan23]

Well in that case, it would be a top 5 crest.

[Louie]

What was the crest during the floods a few years back?

[iamjacobm]

What was the crest during the floods a few years back?

(1) 40.20 ft on 04/18/1952
(2) 36.29 ft on 07/02/2011
(3) 34.22 ft on 04/25/1881
(4) 30.26 ft on 07/10/1993
(5) 29.50 ft on 06/23/1996
(6) 29.02 ft on 06/27/1984
(7) 28.74 ft on 07/01/2010
(8) 27.94 ft on 06/23/2014
(9) 26.96 ft on 04/04/1960
(10) 26.89 ft on 06/17/1990

[Louie]

What was the crest during the floods a few years back?

(1) 40.20 ft on 04/18/1952
(2) 36.29 ft on 07/02/2011
(3) 34.22 ft on 04/25/1881
(4) 30.26 ft on 07/10/1993
(5) 29.50 ft on 06/23/1996
(6) 29.02 ft on 06/27/1984
(7) 28.74 ft on 07/01/2010
(8) 27.94 ft on 06/23/2014
(9) 26.96 ft on 04/04/1960
(10) 26.89 ft on 06/17/1990

Ok so about 6ft short of that. Still pretty dang high.

[Uffda]

Report on TV this morning showed the river was quite a ways into Rivers Edge.

[Linkin5]

Has there ever been serious considerations for a Gavin’s point dam type project north of Omaha and maybe south of Blair?

[bigredmed1]

Has there ever been serious considerations for a Gavin’s point dam type project north of Omaha and maybe south of Blair?

Gavins Point is the furthest south they have gone due to geology and the desire to keep a navigation channel all the way to Sioux City.

Given how little the navigation is working out beyond KC, I can't see why that should be a factor. The issue further south is how much land are you willing to flood forever? Go south of Blair and you come to the nuclear plant. Go down to Ft Calhoun and you flood Boyer Chute (little or no loss) and you flood DeSoto Bend (more loss). A better approach than a dam would be to let the river braid again. The river in it's wild state is like a giant Platte River. The capacitance generated by the braids on the Platte is why it takes a ton of rain to get the Platte to do dangerous flooding. Mostly, it just back fills the empty braids and back waters. Think about what the river capacity by Ft. Calhoun would be if the river was allowed to flow in it's current channel as well as the old Ft. Atkinson days channel.

Another aspect of river management is the swamp factor. Till recent times, NP Dodge was a park in name only. Mostly, it was swamp along the river that allowed the river to rise, spill into the swamp and then drain or evaporate away. We should consider letting more of the river valley go back to swamp as this would afford greater surge capacitance to the river as well.

[GetUrban]

It's safe to assume another dam on the Missouri, big enough to significantly help prevent major flooding down stream at Omaha and below, would probably have to flood land much further north of Blair to make much difference. I-29 would have to be rerouted out of the river valley too. Hopefully the era of building huge dams on major rivers is long past and we can let rivers return more to their natural state and not build too many things in the flood plain.

[lisanstan]

The lower level of the Harrah's garage is flooded as well as most of the north parking lot.

[jelizh]

[youtube][/youtube]

Dodge Park yesterday morning.

[bigredmed1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3unjeXM ... e=youtu.be

Dodge Park yesterday morning.

When we were kids, my dad would tell us stories about the river before the dams. The Dodge park flooding in this video was a normal part of life and thus till very recently (late 1980s and early 1990s), it was called Dodge Park, but was used as a marina and a police firing range most years. If the river flooded like in 2011 or 1993, then the swamp would not dry out at all. With this kind of back water, the river would eventually receed enough to drain all this water out and the park would mostly dry out before it froze in the fall.

[GetUrban]

For the dam(n), river, and flood nerds like myself, here's a link to some interesting info about the history behind the settlement and "taming" of the Missouri River basin. It doesn't look like they ever considered any dams below Sioux City, to keep it open for navigation, as Bigredmed1 mentioned.

They start getting into dam building around page 27, if you're impatient, but it's worth reading the whole thing for Omahans.

Missouri River History

In addition to flood control and hydroelectric, the dams were primarily built to store water for irrigation for use in the more arid parts of the basin. Irrigation isn't needed as much in Eastern Nebraska since some areas receive up to 40" of precipitation per year. The dams that did get built typically displaced many of the indigenous Native Americans all along the stretches of river affected.

[iamjacobm]

https://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/if- ... 75a29.html

Runoff in the upper part of the watershed is on pace to be the third-highest amount in 120 years of records.

A series of dams controls that runoff, and because there’s been so much water this year, the Army Corps of Engineers has opened the gates of those dams wider than usual.

Additionally, the stretch of the river immediately downstream of the dams saw record runoff in September and October.

As a result, river levels have been up.

At the current rate, runoff is expected to total 163 percent of the average by the end of December, according to the corps. Amounts were higher in only two other years, 1997 and 2011. In 2011, a record 61 million acre feet of water washed out of the upper watershed. In 1997, the total was 49 million acre feet. This year’s forecast is for 41.4 million acre feet.

By holding back water and then doling it out, as the corps is doing now, the agency is preventing widespread flooding. Absent the upstream dams, the Missouri River valley would naturally flood because of the runoff in the upper watershed.

Reservoir levels peaked in July. The corps’ goal is to have reservoir levels down to their normal wintertime low before next year’s runoff season.

[Brad]

Record low water levels on the Missouri River. By Sunday the water level is expected to be at 6.4' which would be a new Record Low. Current Record is 6.63'. Nearly 30' lower than the crest in 2011.

https://www.wowt.com/2022/01/07/conditi ... ver-basin/

Check out those sandbars!

[Cermak]

That’s low. Back in 2011 it was to high .

[bigredmed1]

The sandbars are amazing by DeSoto bend. Was there last Tuesday. Lots of ice and they make a lot of noise, but all of the wing dikes along the Nebraska side have 50-75 yard long sandbars on the downstream sides.

[Flyer14]

Lived in the Omaha area for 3 years now and was on the riverfront a few weeks ago and thought it was crazy low. This confirms my suspicions, really remarkable!

[Coyote]

Body of Omaha woman missing on Missouri River found, identified

HARRISON COUNTY, Iowa (WOWT) - Officials said Thursday that search crews had found the body of an Omaha woman reported missing along the Missouri River over the weekend. Iowa Department of Natural Resources recovered the body of 20-year-old Emma Sue Olsen at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday. She was reported missing from a boat reportedly taking on water just before midnight Sunday. Officials are continuing to investigate the incident.

Omaha woman found dead in Missouri River after boating accident

[Coyote]

Body of missing Omaha woman, 20, found in Missouri River

The body of a 20-year-old Omaha woman who went missing in the Missouri River when a boat sank Sunday night was found Thursday north of Blair. The body of Emma Olsen was found near the Tyson Bend Wildlife Area about 8:30 a.m., according to Harrison County (Iowa) Sheriff Brandon Doiel. The boat that sank had been recovered Tuesday by personnel from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Doiel said. "We're just glad to be able to give her family some comfort, some closure," he said.

Olsen's friends told Washington County sheriff's deputies that she had been sleeping in the cabin of the boat Sunday night when it began taking on water near Blair. The deputies learned of the boat's sinking while making a routine walk-through of the Cottonwood Marina property, which is north of Blair, about 11:30 p.m. The Harrison County Sheriff's Office said it was contacted about 11:55 p.m. Sunday about a boat that had sunk just south of the Remington Boat Launch. Several people who were on the boat, which was approximately 30 to 35 feet long, had to be rescued, Doiel said.

[Coyote]

Ice jams can cause flooding along rivers

Ice jams can cause flooding in communities near rivers.