Corps keeps eye on Missouri flow

Missouri River managers are tweaking the river's flow past Nebraska and Iowa to keep municipal water intakes operating while avoiding ice-caused flooding.

Floating ice covered 50 percent to 75 percent of the river Thursday in the 480-mile stretch from Omaha to Jefferson City, Mo., according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Extreme cold temperatures have frozen the river in North Dakota and above Ponca, Neb.

To compensate for very cold temperatures forecast for the next five days, the corps has gradually increased releases from Gavins Point Dam in northeast Nebraska.

Jody Farhat, chief of the corps' water management office in Omaha, said river levels can drop downstream of ice jams and rise upstream of them when ice is forming. “Once the river freezes, water will move efficiently under the ice,'' she said.

Farhat said the corps will closely monitor ice conditions and adjust releases as needed.

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