By Associated Press - Thursday, November 5, 2020

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The amount of water being released into the Missouri River from a key dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will be reduced later this month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Omaha said.

The amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point Dam will be reduced starting on Nov. 22 by about 3,000 cubic feet (85 cubic meters) per second (85 cubic meters per second) each day until reaching to winter release rate of about 17,000 cubic feet (481.4 cubic meters) per second, the Corps said in a news release Thursday.

That’s down significantly from the reduction seen a year earlier, after heavy rain and snow melt in the spring sent the river to record levels and flooded parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Last year, the Corps waited until mid-December to reduce the fall output to 27,000 cubic feet (765 cubic meters) per second.

Gavins Point Dam winter releases normally range from 12,000 to 17,000 cubic feet (340 to 481.4 cubic meters) per second.

Precipitation going into November is well-below normal in much of the upper basin, the release said, and most of the basin - from Colorado, Montana and the Dakotas to Nebraska and Iowa - is experiencing extreme to moderate drought, the Corps said.

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