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Additional gages to provide water level data

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Date: January 31, 2017

Organization: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Stream gage on frozer river in North DakotaOMAHA, Neb. ­ In response to safety concerns and the increased potential for flooding along the Cannon Ball River, south of Bismarck, North Dakota, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District, in coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division announced plans to install two rapid­deployable, mobile stream­gages to provide short­ term water level data in critical areas.

Heavy snowpack in the downstream reaches of the Cannon Ball River expose the area to an above normal flood risk when the snow melts. The additional stream­gages do not eliminate flood risks, but provide additional time to react based on information provided by the stream­gages to local officials and to members of the public who may be affected by potential flooding.

While the mobile stream­gages do offer additional time and information to local residents to react to snow­ melt flooding, there is also the potential risk of ice­jam flooding occurring in the same areas. Due to the rapid flooding often associated with ice jams, the mobile stream­gages will offer minimal time to react.

The two additional gages will be installed on County Road 81 in Solen, North Dakota and on Highway 1806 near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. There is one currently­installed stream­gage on the Cannon Ball River near Breien, North Dakota on Highway 6. Installation of the stream­gages will be completed by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The real­time water­level data from these gages, after installation, will be made available on the U. S. Geological Survey flood website at the URL: https://nd.water.usgs.gov/floodinfo/.

A current forecast of water levels near Bismarck, North Dakota, provided by the National Weather Service can be found at the following website: http://www.weather.gov/bis/.

Additionally, each Tuesday, the Missouri River Water Management Division will provide weekly updates on plains and mountain snowpack and mainstem reservoir conditions. “We are committed to providing everyone the most up­to­date information regarding snowpack and reservoir conditions,” said Jody Farhat, Chief of the Corps’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.

The updates are posted on the main page of the MRBWMD website: http://www.nwd­ mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/, under “Weekly Update – Winter/Spring 2017”.