OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — More rainfall than expected flowed into the Missouri River last month, but the river's reservoirs still have plenty of room because of this year's below-average snowfall.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it expects 26.6 million acre feet of water will flow into the Missouri River this year. That's 105 percent of normal.
The Corps says last month's runoff of 6.8 million acre feet was 125 percent of normal, so the amount of water released from the dam on the South Dakota-Nebraska border was reduced to minimize flooding.
The river's reservoirs are using only 35 percent of the space reserved for flood control storage. It helps that the snowpack above Fort Peck Dam was 72 percent of normal and the snowpack below that dam was 78 percent of normal.
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