Community Corner

Missouri River Rising, But Chesterfield Should Be Safe

Controlled releases from dams upstream will cause high water levels, but flooding shouldn't be a danger.

The Missouri River will rise in the next few days, possibly flooding in some areas, but Chesterfield officials say the city should be fine.

There is some significant flooding on the upper Missouri River, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun a controlled release of some of the water from the Gavins Point Dam, which is on the border of Nebraska and South Dakota. The dam will release about 20,000 to 30,000 more cubic feet of water per second, raising its total discharge to about 150,000 cubic feet per second.

But, Chesterfield Planning and Public Works Director Mike Geisel said that shouldn't make too much of a difference.

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"That's a nominal increase, and we're below flood stage right now," Geisel said. Even with a massive rain storm, Geisel said, Chesterfield should be fine. He doesn't anticipate that the agricultural levee on the north side of the Monarch-Chesterfield Levee will be overtopped. To overtop that levee, the flood stage in St. Charles has to be between 32 and 33 feet.

"Right now, if we just had normal rains, we're looking at somewhere around 29 to 30 (feet) here, which is less than last year and wouldn't even come over the (agricultural) levee," Geisel said. Even with heavy rains, the water should only crest at about 37 feet, he estimated. That's 3 feet below the level the river reached in the flood of 1993, and the levee is 7 feet taller than it was then.

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"We're absolutely concerned about high water, but not about flooding," Geisel said. He added that if anything were to happen, the Corps of Engineers already has contractors in Chesterfield Valley working on construction projects, so they could mobilize to fight a flood immediately.

The city regularly monitors Missouri River levels. Right now they're paying the most attention to the Jefferson City, MO; Hermann, MO; and Washington, MO gauges to get a sense of when the higher water levels are headed this way. Geisel estimated that it would be a week to 10 days before the effect of the controlled dam release would be seen here.

Geisel also said in a news release that the city is in continuous contact with the Monarch-Chesterfield Levee District and the Corps of Engineers. The levee district is hosting at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the city's Public Works Facility, 165 Public Works Dr. (west of the ).

"We are concerned," he said. "It would be foolish to dismiss this. But we're prepared."


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