Meetings on flood repair, preparedness set at Wappapello Lake

WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- Public meetings have been scheduled at Wappapello Lake to discuss flood repair, flood preparedness, water control procedures and dam safety.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will meet with the public at 6:30 p.m. today at the Bill Emerson Memorial Visitor Center to provide information and answer questions on water control procedures and Corps-funded recovery efforts following flood damage caused by extreme high water in spring 2011.

A separate meeting will be from 4 to 6 p.m. March 5 at the visitor center with the Missouri Department of Transportation to look at a long-term solution for repair of Route T, which was damaged when water topped the emergency spillway. The Route T project is funded by MoDOT.

Among the items needing improvement are Redman Road and the St. Francis River Access Road, operations manager Cindy Jackson said. Work also has to be done on water, sewer and electric lines for the management office, which were damaged when water topped the emergency spillway and washed out Route T.

Replacement lines were temporarily run under the Blue Hole bypass road, constructed until Route T is permanently fixed. These lines will have to be disconnected when construction begins on Route T, Jackson said, and rerouted so the management office would not be affected by future floods.

The Wappapello Lake project has been approved for a budget in the current fiscal year of a little more than $4 million. This is about $1.3 million below the normal acceptable service level, Jackson said.

Approximately $219,000 will be spent in early March when Wappapello conducts its periodic dam inspection. This happens once every five years and requires the lake to be drawn down an additional foot to un-water the gatehouse structure for inspection.

"Boaters and visitors should be advised of underwater hazards not normally visible during this drawdown time," Jackson said. "As soon as the inspection is complete, we will resume normal winter pool."

Safety inspectors, as well as inspectors for concrete, steel and electrical will examine the gatehouse. The emergency spillway, dam and dikes will also be inspected.

Jackson said updates to the water control plan resulting from information learned during the spring flooding will also be discussed.

"We have new information based on the flood. We only had guesstimates before and now we have actual data," Jackson explained.

In a high-water situation, Wappapello would now request to increase to a 10,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) release if the lake were predicted to reach a level of 380 feet, Jackson said. The water control plan has stated prior the lake could not increase to a 10,000 cfs release until the lake actually reached 380 feet.

A yearlong process will be undertaken to make other updates to the water control plan. Additional public meetings will be held upstream and downstream to discuss changes.

Another change in high water response plans will be to update communities upstream and downstream on lake conditions, Jackson said, even if it does not initially appear those locations will be affected.

Earthquake preparedness will also be discussed during the meeting.

For more information, call the Wappapello Lake Project Office at 573-222-8562.

Pertinent address:

Wappapello Lake, MO