Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced it will begin making additional spillway releases from dams in the White River Basin.
The Corps says if the National Weather Service’s forecasts for significant rainfall holds true in the next 72 hours, spillway releases on Beaver Lake and Table Rock dams will begin Tuesday, followed by a spillway release on Bull Shoals. The current spillway releases at Lake Norfork will be increased, the Corps says.
All spillway releases will be based off of rainfall runoff amounts.
“Corps policy requires its staff to operate the lakes based upon runoff from rain that has actually fallen and can be measured,” says Mike Biggs, chief of the Hydraulics & Technical Services Branch. “Operating the dams based upon ‘water on the ground’ allows engineers to make data based decisions.”
The Corps is advising areas downstream of the dams to begin assessing their respective plans and to begin taking the proper precautions. Landowners with belongings near the river’s edge should also begin making plans for high water.
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