St. Louis, Mo.- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis reported that Wappapello Lake's pool elevation is cresting May 3, 2011 at just over 400.0 feet. That elevation sets a new record, nearly a foot above the previous record of 399.09, set in April 1945. The current water releases of 30,400 cubic feet per second are more than three times the maximum that's released through the gate structure on the dam. Wappapello Lake is on the St. Francis River about 150 miles south of St. Louis.
St. Louis District Commander, Col. Thomas O'Hara has been at Wappapello Lake since the afternoon of Saturday, April 30.
"Our system is working well, as it was designed to do," O'Hara stated. "We are dealing with historic or near historic events, not just here at Wappapello, but across this part of the country. This is just one example of the value of these reservoirs and other elements of our flood risk reduction systems have on the region and how they are working."
May 2, at about 2 a.m., the lake's waters began overtopping a temporary rock berm that was constructed across the lake's overflow spillway. The berm was constructed to an elevation of 397.3 feet but recent rain events pushed the lakes waters beyond that level. By 11 a.m., the spillway was fully functioning as designed. Water over the spillway posed no risk to the dam structure, but Highway T across the dam was destroyed, along with the fiber optics and water lines going across the dam.
The Corps of Engineers, community partners and local law enforcement carried out an early warning plan to provide accurate and updated information to people living downstream of Wappapello Lake. The Corps has also held daily conferences with agencies, county officials, community leaders, and stakeholders to provide the latest information about flood conditions, and has provided regular updates through local media, telephone and internet resources.
Spring 2011 has produced large amounts of rainfall through southeastern Missouri and the St. Francis River basin is no exception. On Sunday, April 24 and Monday, April 25, Wappapello Lake experienced near-record inflows approaching 88,000 cubic feet per second. Inflows of 80,000-90,000 cfs were experienced again yesterday morning. As a flood damage reduction project, Wappapello has performed as it was designed. Without it, the historic amount of rainfall in the basin would have moved downstream unchecked while other, high water events were already occurring.
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