The aftermath of the April 2008 rains and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) robotic and bureaucratic adherence to “The Plan” will impact the Branson area for years to come. Early last summer in a column entitled, “Corps fiddles The Plood while local officials and leaders dance to the tune.” The Ole Seagull asked the areas elected and unelected leaders two simple questions about what was being done to correct the situation and prevent it from happening in the future.
Those questions, were “Is there any official record anywhere that even one petitioned the Corps, on an emergency basis, for a temporary exception to lowering the Regulatory Stages at Newport until the Tri-Lakes levels, especially Bull Shoals, were back to safe levels? Did even one initiate official action with the Corps requesting a process be set in motion to evaluate changes to The Plan?”
What happened in the Branson area, particularly after the April rain event was not as the result of a “flood” it was as the result of a “plood.” Almost everyone knows what a flood is, “An overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry and usually caused by an act of God.” To describe what happened to Branson after April the Ole Seagull coined the word “plood” and defined it as “The overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry or the constant real threat of such flow, usually caused by ‘The Plan.’”
“The Plan,” simply stated, says releases from Beaver are dependent upon the elevation in Table Rock and Bull Shoals lakes; releases from Table Rock are dependent upon the elevation in Bull Shoals lake; and releases from Bull Shoals are dependent upon the “seasonal regulating stage” at Newport, AR, some 200 miles plus downstream from Branson.
The lower the seasonal regulating stage at Newport the less water can be released from Branson area lakes. That works out real well for the Newport area because the levels of the “seasonal regulating stage” were basically negotiated down from 25 feet to 12 feet over the years because of the political clout and influence of the agricultural interests of that area. There was apparently, no effective local governmental participation from the Branson Tri-Lakes area.
Well time has passed, July has turned into the end of December and an Ole Seagull would close his last column of the year by asking basically the same two questions of the same leaders “Is there any official record anywhere that even one of you petitioned the Corps, on an emergency basis, for a temporary exception to lowering the Regulatory Stages at Newport until the Tri-Lakes levels, especially Bull Shoals, were back to safe levels? Did even one of you initiate any official action with the Corps requesting a process be set in motion to evaluate changes to The Plan?”
Well maybe just a tad more. The Corp’s latest official Daily Reservoir Report for the White River System dated Dec. 24 shows the lake levels of Beaver and Table Rock at 1119.37 and 913.92 respectively. The same report shows those levels were 1113.4 and 910.5 respectively on Dec. 24, 2007.
Does that mean what an Ole Seagull thinks it means? Is Beaver Lake 5.97 feet higher than it was a year ago at this time and Table Rock 3.42 feet higher? What could that bode for our area if 2009 has the same amount, or more, of rain than it had in 2008?
Wait, is that the tune of “Auld Lang Syne” being sung on New Years Eve by our areas leaders? Yes, but listen to the lyrics they’re singing:
“Should high waters be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should high waters be forgot?
and days of Plooding fine.”
