May 22, 2012

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Region’s governors may have one more flood summit

May 1, 2012 By

Governors in the Missouri River basin met last summer as record flooding hit the region, a group that was formed at the call of Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman.

Most of the governors agreed flood control should be the top priority of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in operating the river system.

Governor Heineman says the governors are still in contact, but they’re not as active as last year.

“We had a conversation a couple of weeks ago,” Heineman says. “At this time, no future meetings (are planned). It looks like we’ve got an opportunity this year that we won’t have a repeat of last year but we’re prepared to act if necessary. I think there may be one more meeting later in May up in North Dakota, just one final look at where we stand today.”

The governors’ group joins a similar one made up of the Congressional delegations from the basin, in asking the Corps of Engineers to modify its management of the river.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, News, Weather

Federal ag boss blasts Army Corps for flood response

April 25, 2012 By

Acres of swamped farmland in Nebraska & Iowa, June, 2011

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should be more nimble in responding to weather events that impact the agency’s management of the Missouri River.

“It would be well for the Army Corps to be more attentive to the needs and to listen more closely to the concerns along the river systems. I think there’s a tendency for the Army Corps to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got the answer,’” Vilsack says. “You know, you really have to have better dialogue and better communication with folks.”

Farmers and others along the Missouri River have complained about the way the Corps managed the release of water from upstream dams last year — leading to massive, long-term flooding along the river corridor.

Vilsack says the Corps needs to build “more flexibility” into its management plan for the Missouri.

“When they saw record snowfalls and snowpack, there should have been, ‘Hey, how does this fit into our overall strategy and does it still fit and does it still work?’” Vilsack says. “We’re seeing more extreme weather conditions and I think that put the emphasis and a requirement on all of us to constantly rethink whether or not our assumptions were correct in whatever plan we’ve developed.”

Vilsack says the Corps should “be more engaged” in an on-going review of its management plan for the Missouri or any other river.

“Not just well, ‘Well, we’ve done this plan and we’ve put a lot of effort into it and we can park that plan and we can just work that plan because it’s the right plan,’” Vilsack says. “Well, maybe it was the right plan at the time. Who knows? But you now have changing weather conditions and you should be saying, ‘Does this plan still fit?’”

Record flooding hit wide sections of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa last year as the Missouri River pushed out of its banks for much of the summer.

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Agriculture, News, Weather

When storms topple towers, HAM radio can help save the day

April 24, 2012 By

When modern communications systems in Nebraska were knocked out by recent tornadoes and severe storms, local officials had no way of calling for help or reporting damage.

That’s where amateur radio, or “HAM” operators stepped in. Tom Reis, a Skywarn coordinator for the National Weather Service, says HAM operators are a valuable asset who can get out messages that help save lives.

“The National Weather Service recognizes the importance of ground truth information and a variety of methods to get that information to them at the Weather Service office,” Reis says. “And one of those methods is via amateur radio. The Weather Service has a quite extensive amateur radio station that they staff when the time arises, when the need arises.”

HAM radio operators can confirm sightings of severe weather as it approaches and damage after the storm passes, while providing communications support to local officials.

Reis says it shows how the amateur radio operators provide a community service and provide for their community in a variety of different ways. Reis says it doesn’t take much to become an amateur radio operator and people of all ages enjoy the hobby.

He also recommends everyone attend a free spotter training course and purchase a NOAA weather radio. The six-digit codes can be programmed with assistance from your local emergency management office or by finding your county and surrounding county codes at www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrrcvr.htm.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, News, Weather

Inspections hindered by underwater junkyard at Gavins Point Dam

April 23, 2012 By

Gavins Point Dam -- Photo thanks to US Army Corps of Engineers

Scuba divers are taking a closer look at the spillway area at Gavins Point Dam, near Yankton, South Dakota. The dam was a focal point of last year’s historic flooding along the Missouri River that inundated western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.

That dam released more than 160,000 cubic feet of water per second for several weeks last summer as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dealt with record rain and runoff.

Dave Becker, operations manager at the dam, says some clean-up is needed before they can finish inspections.

“They got 80 to 90% of the spillway inspected but they determined there’s a lot of debris in the spillway that needs to be removed,” Becker says, “sunken water-logged logs, metal frames to things, old boat docks, things like that.”

Becker says the design of the dam makes it more difficult to look at all the wear and tear.

“One of the challenges at our spillway here is, it’s always underwater,” he says. “We can’t do inspections in the dry all the time. There’s in the order of 350 drains on the spillway and we’re determining what level they’ll be inspected at.”

Becker says the dam operated as it was designed to during last year’s flooding and he says there are -no- concerns about the structure being unsound.

“We’ve had some drains that’ve gotten washed away during the flood,” he says. “We’ve had new drains built to replace those. We’ve seen no issues with the concrete. We are concerned somewhat about the gravel, or the frost blanket, down below the concrete so that’s why they want to do the ground-penetrating radar to determine the condition of that.”

Becker says they hope to get much of the work started in the next two weeks. He says a barge and crane will be needed to clean out much of the heavy debris below the dam.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, Military, News, Weather

Flood-damaged biking/hiking trail in SE Nebraska to be repaired soon

April 23, 2012 By

Crews are almost ready to start repairs on the popular Steamboat Trace Trail in southeast Nebraska which was ravaged by the past two years of Missouri River flooding.

Bob Hilske, general manager of the Natural Resources District, says they’ll focus on eight miles of trail between Peru and Brownville.

They’ll be repairing erosion problems and resurfacing the trail base with limestone, though the extent of the damage varies widely.

Hilske says there are areas where they’ll just have to lay a couple inches of rock and other places that will require more extensive repairs.

Repairs range from sediment deposited a foot deep that needs to be cleared off while in other areas, there’s significant erosion and the trail and bed are completely washed away.

The northern section of the trail, from Peru to Nebraska City, is now open. The section from Peru to Brownville should reopen in mid-July.

The project should cost about $140,000. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will pick up 75% of the cost, with the remainder coming from local NRD funds.

By Matthew Leaf, KTNC, Falls City

Filed Under: Accidents & Disasters, News, Recreation & Entertainment, Weather
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