The Corps of Engineers headquartered of out Kansas City, gave the local officials at Milford Lake the go-ahead to increase the outflow at Milford Lake.

“We crested 10 feet yesterday and came up a little bit more overnight, so we actually ended up about 10.4 feet high,” said RJ Harms, Project Manager of the Corps of Engineers at Milford Lake, referring to lake water levels.

The outflow at Milford Lake was operating at 25 cubic feet per second, which Harms is the minimum at Milford Lake – by 4:00 this afternoon that outflow will be increased to 8000 cubic feet per second.

Even at 8000 cubic feet per second the lake “will probably drop maybe a foot a day, so it’s going to take a couple weeks for [the lake] to get rid of the water and get back down to close to a normal range.  There is still a lot of water downstream, and it takes our water several days to get down past Kansas City so that’s why we can start our [outflow increase] a little earlier,” said Harms.

According to Harms, there is a gauge, located near Waverly, Missouri, that determines whether an increased outflow is safe depending on how much cubic feet per second is passing that point.

“If it’s too high and up in the flood stage, then we can’t let any water out here [at Milford]; so that’s kind of the choke point for all of the lakes in Kansas,” said Harms.

Looking at the forecast for the next week, Harms says the water levels at the gauge point look like they will drop under the level that allows for Milford Lake officials to start the release [of the lake outflow].

The increased lake levels affected many lake-goers over the Memorial Day weekend.

“Unfortunately, without being able to make any water releases and with the rain [that we did get] the lake came up about four feet from Friday until Monday,” said Harms.

Not only were roadways under water, but according to Harms, boat docks became increasingly difficult to maneuver. A main concern with boat ramps is that they get too flat and boat owners are having to drop their vehicles back in to the water in order to get the angle that they need to get their boat into the water.  “With our release now going to 8000 [cubic feet per second], we [Corp of Engineers] think we will be gaining about a foot a day, so some of those ramps will come back in to shape pretty quick.”

This increased lake level sent “a few folks home” earlier than anticipated due to roadways going underwater.