Flood — Douglas, Nebraska

2011-06-01 to 2011-06-30 · near East Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska

Event narrative

Flooding along the Missouri River gradually worsened during June as record releases from Gavins Point Dam brought widespread flooding along the river. At Omaha the river climbed to around its 29 foot flood stage late in May and rose steadily through June reaching around 35 feet late in the month. The flooding in Douglas county along the Missouri River closed several parks, boating accesses, and recreational areas. Low areas around downtown on the river side of the Levee began flooding when a flood wall was installed. The south Omaha waste water treatment plant was forced to send 6 million gallons of waste water daily into the river early in June due to flood waters affecting the facility. The high water and persistent pressure on levees forced Eppley Airfield and other businesses to constantly monitor the situation and have pumps on standby as either rains, storm sewer backups or minor boils near the levee would force pumping of the water back over the levee. By June 22nd Eppley had already spent 2.5 million dollars on flood prevention. Burlington Northern had to shut down one of its tracks to allow it to be used as a levee, this forced Amtrak to close that link of service. The flooding persisted into July.

Wider weather episode

A record rain event in May in eastern Montana combined with high water from storms in April and May (and early spring snow melt) and brought high water to the Missouri River chain of reservoirs. The high water levels plus the threat of flood waters due an unusually high snow pack in the Rockies over the upper Missouri River Basin and additional heavy rain all contributed to record releases from the Missouri River Reservoirs. Releases from Gavins Point Dam, which is the last in the chain, increased to over 100 kcfs during the first week of June and then rose to around 160 kcfs by the middle of the month. The previous record release was 70 kcfs. The high releases produced flooding along the Missouri River which gradually worsened from May into June and then continued into July.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.3893, -95.9738)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 297265. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.