Flood Update -- First Time Ever: Corps Will Raise Spillway Gates at Garrison -- Public Cleared Out

Link here. From the Bismarck Tribune:

History will be made at 8 a.m. Wednesday when for the first time ever the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers raises Garrison Dam spillway gates to help relieve a massive amount of water in Lake Sakakawea behind the dam.

The lake level is less than 1 foot from overtopping the spillway and the corps will raise about half of the 28 gates to control the flow and equalize output between the regulatory tunnels on the west side of the dam and the spillway on the east side, said Lake Sakakawea manager Linda Phelps.

The gates will be raised about 1 foot and will release about 15,000 cubic feet per second down the massive spillway apron, into the spillway pond far below and through an outlet channel out to the Missouri River.

Because the corps doesn't know exactly where the spillway water will flow, or how high it will get before the channel kicks into full running capacity, some precautionary measures are being taken to protect the public, Phelps said.