March runoff in the upper Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa, was a record 11.0 million-acre feet, surpassing the previous record of 7.3 million-acre feet set in 1952. The average March upper basin runoff is 2.9 million-acre feet, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.

Division Chief John Remus says the record high runoff in March was caused by 2-4 inches of rain falling on heavy plains snowpack causing the snowpack to rapidly melt on frozen, saturated soils. Pool levels have increased in flood control reservoirs, capturing some of the runoff. The Corps plans to increase Gavins Point releases to 55,000 cubic feet per second by early next week. Gavins Point releases will be above average for the next several months, and possibly as late as November.

Typical releases during the spring season are between 20,000 and 30,000 cubic feet per second. The releases increase anxiety along the Missouri River as the March flooding event left more than 50 levee’s breached between Kansas City, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, leaving vast areas of farmland without flood protection.