State emergency management division officials say the water being released into the Missouri River from the Gavins Point Dam will be gradually reduced beginning on August 17th. The chief of the division’s Readiness Bureau, Joyce Flinn, says sonar soundings are scheduled to begin before the water goes down to try and identify damage. Flinn says they’ll be looking at bases of towers or bridge abutments. The U-S Geological survey is helping with the soundings and it will help them be prepared to start repairs once they can get to the structures.

She says they are working to identify some critical infrastructure and they will work with the U-S-G-S will work with other federal partners and the counties to do the soundings while the water is coming down. Flinn says the water releases will drop from 150-thousand cubic-feet-per-second (CFPS) now to 90-thousand C-F-P-S by the end of August.

(Radio Iowa)