Apr 24 Levees Completed, Pipestem
Jamestown, Disaster Recovery Center To Open Mon Apr 27th KCSi-T.V. News
Jamestown, ND (KCSi-T.V. News) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported at Friday's (Apr 24th) Interagency meeting in Jamestown that levee construction is virtually completed. Todd Linquist said more sections of sandbags or levees could be added, if there is a major rain event. He said Pipestem Reservoir Friday afternoon has crested and was at 1,492 feet and was releasing 1,300 cfs. Jamestown Dam was releasing 1,700 cfs and will release maximum 1,800 cfs at any given time. That figure will be adjusted downward to match outflows from the spillway, to keep the maximum release at 1,800 cfs. Pipestem releases will be ramped up in the coming days.
The Corps will meet next week regarding long term releases, and what those numbers might look like. One senario is to decrease combined releases to 1,800 cfs. when the former record pool levels occur. He said a high release would accomplish that by June, a slower release, not until the end of August. He note that wave action on the reservoir late this week cause the reservoir to ris a tenth of a foot, and cause water to go over the spillway, for the first time ever. (see live video on CSi Cable 10)...more story below video...
City Engineer, Reed Schwartzkopf said a system, of pipes and pumps is moving the sewage in the area of Southwest Jamestown where the lift station had problems on Wednesday April 22nd in keep up with sewage inflows. He said the waste is going through the pipes to the existing collection point in that area. He added the city needs to get into some vacant homes in that area, to see if sump pumps, or water in a basement may be entering the sanitary sewer system. He said the city is being proactive in working on taking the stress off other lift stations in the city. The main lift station is still pumping 6.7 million gallons a day. Resident should continue to conserve water, and discharge sump pumps OUTDOORS. With storm sewers workers are getting assistance from the National Guard, to free up city crews to clean up dirt and debris from streets to keep it out of the storm seweers. The city is placing 3-dozen water pumps in low lying areas to move standing water caused by a heavy rain event.
It was reported the city has about 110,000 to 120,000 filled sandbags on reserve, and two areas will be pre-staged at levee sites in order to more quickly plug any leaks.
The National Guard reported 6 Quick Response Force teams are on stand by, with 260 soldiers in Jamestown. The Guard recently installed 1,500 feet of HESCO barrier in the area of 2nd Avenue Northeast.
FEMA officially open a Jamestown Disaster Recovery Center in the Buffalo Mall on Monday Apirl 27t at 1-pm. FEMA officials may be on hand, early on Saturday to start taking applications. The toll free FEMA help line, to start appplications in s 1-800-621-FEMA. The FEMA videographer and photographer have finished in Jamestown and Stutsman County, with video and photos to be posted on the Stutsman County website.
The Public Information call-in center will cut hours of operation starting Friday evening (Apr 24th) and stop that evening at 11-p.m., and reopen from 7-a.m. to 11-p.m. on Saturday. The decision was made based on a lesser amount of overnight calls. The phone mumber...215-6241 will be available to leave voice mail or forward calls to the LEC for immediate attention. The Emergency Operations Center will remain a 24/7 operation.
For more information on line, visit Jamestown USA dot com udner River Watch. And on CSi Cable Channels 10 43 and 67.
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