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| Table Rock Dam releasing 20,000 cfs with 5,000 cfs coming from 5 spillways and 15,000 cfs from generators located lower right. |
No more additional, water will be released from Table Rock Lake, in the Branson area, until and unless the lake level rises to an elevation of 931. According to James D. Sandburg, Operations Manager, Table Rock Lake Project Office, as of the morning of Apr. 8, the level of Table Rock Lake was at an elevation 927.2 which is 75 percent of its flood control capacity.
Sandburg further indicated that currently, with the five spillways they have open and the use of the dam’s four turbines, 20,000 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) is being released from Table Rock Dam into Lake Taneycomo, 15,000 cfs from the turbines, and 5,000 cfs from the spillways. That water is flowing into Bull Shoals Lake which is currently at 77 percent of its flood storage capacity.
Sandburg said that the only way the new auxiliary spillways would be opened was after all other measures were taken to control the release of water from Table Rock through the use of the ten original spillways on the dam. He expressed his opinion that is extremely unlikely during this current event.
Sandburg pointed out that the top of the flood storage pool for Rock Lake is an elevation of 931. Once that level is reached there is no more storage capacity and any additional water running into the lake must be released, which they call “passing inflow.” Even in a passing inflow situation, however no more water will be released than is necessary to pass the inflow through the dam and downstream.
Inflow for Table Rock Lake comes from Beaver Lake, rain, and run off from the watershed. Sandburg said that Beaver’s storage capacity is currently at 92 percent of its flood capacity storage. Although its spillways have been opened during the current event, they have been closed since the morning of Apr.5 and the water being released into Table Rock from Beaver Lake is coming through its turbines.
Should the weather that is forecast for Thursday cause the inflow into Table Rock, regardless of its source, to rise to an elevation over 931, that inflow will be passed through the dam and downstream. Sandburg could not say how many gates would be open because the number would be dependent on the rate of the inflow into the lake.
He stressed that any release would only be in the amount necessary to pass the inflow. He further pointed out that the release would be reduced as soon as possible and in proportion to the abatement of the inflow into the lake. Sandburg pointed out that the lake had gotten up to an elevation of 929 during this event which is the highest it has been since 1985. He said that the highest it has ever been was “931 point something” back in 1961 which was also when they had the highest release, 31,000 cfs.
To go to theofficial site of the Coprs showing graphs of Table Rock Lakes releases etc. click here.
Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.
