The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Wednesday that it expects reservoir releases out of Gavins Point Dam to reach the fall release rate four days sooner than earlier forecasts indicated.

“Our evacuation plan is just ahead of schedule due to lower inflows into the basin, “said Jody Farhat, Chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.

“This puts us in a position to accelerate the comedown release schedule for Gavins Point, arriving at 40,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) by Oct. 2.”

Currently, the Corps is releasing 65,000 cfs. Beginning Wednesday, Sept 28, the Corps will reduce releases by 5,000 cfs every day until a reservoir release rate of 40,000 cfs is achieved. The 40,000 cfs release rate is slightly above the typical fall release rate of 35,500 cfs.

The gradual drawdown of releases from the southernmost of the six main stem reservoirs along the Missouri River, Gavins Point Dam, began Aug. 19 after reaching historic levels in mid-June.

You can view the detailed three week release forecast for the main stem dams here.