Thursday, July 1, 2010

Des Moines River Flooding West of Boone - Photos by Bob Kelly

click to embiggen
The Saylorville Dam in Des Moines, which holds back the Des Moines River, creates a large Saylorville Lake, and on wet seasons like this one, the Des Moines River backs up far to the north of the Lake. In this case it has covered about a mile of highway 30 west of Boone, as shown in this photo. The dam is about to overflow from all the rain we have been having, which has prompted some to ask, why was the lake level not lowered substantially so it could absorb a heavy early summer rainfall? It will be like this for several days, and even after the road is open to traffic, the water will remain so high that it will continue to cause closure of the beautiful Ledges State Park that is loved by so many Iowans. There are 2-3 inches of additional rain forcast for Sunday and Monday, and it just may be more than the system can handle.

1 comment:

Ur-spo said...

It looks like someone left the tap open.