US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ® Inter-Agency Water Management Conference Michael Biggs, PE, CFM Matthew Moix, PE Hydraulics & Technical Services Branch Little Rock District 22 January 2016

US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ® LEGEND Red – District Boundary Black – State Boundary Blue – Lakes & Rivers Shaded – Drainage Basin MVK AOR MVM AOR SWT AOR NWK AOR MVS AOR Little Rock District Drainage Basins

BUILDING STRONG ® Flood May – June 2015

BUILDING STRONG ® May 2015 Total Precip

BUILDING STRONG ® Van Buren Flows May – July 2015 Natural Conditions Experienced

BUILDING STRONG ® Trimble Releases May – August k cfs Bench 21 day Taper

BUILDING STRONG ® MKARNS FORECAST POINT FLOOD CRESTS LocationMay-Jun 2015Dec 2015-Jan 2016May 1990 Van Buren 33.5 ft34.6 ft36.1 ft 365,000 cfs396,000 cfs401,000 cfs Dardanelle 37.7 ft40.4 ft (40.8 ft)41.6 ft 378,000 cfs426,000 cfs (446k cfs)433,000 cfs Toad Suck L&D ft282.6 ft282.9 ft 343,000 cfs428,000 cfs425,000 cfs Little Rock 22.9 ft24.9 ft27.7 ft 353,000 cfs426,000 cfs406,000 cfs (450k cfs) Pendleton/Mills Dam ft33.0 ft33.7 ft 323,000 cfs417,000 cfs458,000 cfs

BUILDING STRONG ® LITTLE RIVER FLOODING POOL CRESTS & RELEASES LocationMay-Jun 2015Dec 2015-Jan 2016RECORD DeQueen ft (new record) 1,865 cfs1,997 cfs Dierks ft ft558.0 ft (12/1982) 828 cfs 782 cfs900 cfs Gillham ft ft ft (12/1982) 2,988 cfs2,974 cfs3,100 cfs Millwood ft (new record) ft ft (Prior Record) 50,385 cfs59,671 cfs60,000 cfs

BUILDING STRONG ® MKARNS FRM FLOODING POOL CRESTS & RELEASES LocationMay-Jun 2015Dec 2015-Jan 2016May 1990 Blue Mountain ft ft425.2 ft 3,450 cfs 3,250 cfs12,000 cfs Nimrod ft ft377.9 ft 6,800 cfs5,600 cfs13,500 cfs

BUILDING STRONG ® WHITE RIVER FLOODING POOL CRESTS & RELEASES LocationMay-Jun 2015Dec 2015-Jan 2016RECORD BEAVER ft ft (04/2008) 15,200 cfs92,263 cfs92,400 cfs TABLE ROCK ft ft (04/2011) 21,650 cfs 72,975 cfs69,030 cfs BULL SHOALS ft685.2 ft FT (05/2011) 18,520 cfs30,000 cfs58,775 CFS NORFORK ft571.6 ft ft (04/2008) 6,000 cfs10,000 cfs 81,700 cfs GREERS FERRY ft474.8 ft ft (04/2008 ) 6,300 cfs9,000 cfs7,000 cfs

US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ® Toad Suck L&D May 2015

BUILDING STRONG ®

US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ® Toad Suck As-Builts

US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ® Toad Suck Temp Staff

BUILDING STRONG ®

Murray Tainter Gates

BUILDING STRONG ® Darwin Award Winner

BUILDING STRONG ®

Unique Coordination 1.Office of Pipeline Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, Department of Transportation Houston, TX Pipeline failure and explosion in MKARNS Pool 6. 2.Pulaski County Sherriff & Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Bass boat joy riders

BUILDING STRONG ® Lessons Learned 1.When abandoning Locks and Dams, DON’T turnoff power. 2.New Staff Gage locations need to be assessable and readable. Don’t place them on fences. Install Staff Gages that are big enough to read. 3.Social Media and Public Statements on Radio, TV, and Print need to emphasize force of river flows. Arkansas River carries LARGE debris just under the surface for flows 60k cfs and above. Your limit in ducks or trophy bass are not worth risking your life. Backwater areas are dangerous too, be careful where you park. 4.Don’t have a regional Flood Exercise!

LITTLE ROCK DISTRICT Water Management: Emergency Management: TULSA DISTRICT Water Management: Emergency Management:

BUILDING STRONG ® NWS Routine Coordination 25 Dec QPF

BUILDING STRONG ® NWS Routine Coordination 26 Dec QPF

BUILDING STRONG ® Questions

BUILDING STRONG ® 27 December 7 a.m. Precip

BUILDING STRONG ® 28 December 7 a.m. Precip

BUILDING STRONG ® December 2015 Total Precip

BUILDING STRONG ® Questions

BUILDING STRONG ® Van Buren Flows December 2015 – January 2016 Natural Conditions Experienced Conditions

US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ® Toad Suck L&D December 2015

BUILDING STRONG ®

NWS Flood Coordination 1.Pre-flood conference call SWL Reservoir Control personnel participated in a teleconference with NWSFO for Little Rock, Memphis, Lower Mississippi River Forecasting Center (Slidell), and Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecasting Center (Tulsa) to discuss the forecasted storm. 2.Flash flood warnings for tailwater SWL coordinated eminent project releases (rates and durations) with NWS in order to quantify impacts of proposed flood operations. (BV, TR, BS, NF, GF, DQ, MW, BM, NR releases) All operations coordinated with Springfield, Tulsa, Paducah, Shreveport, and Little Rock WFO’s respectively. 3.Special scenario river forecasts SWL used observed and forecasted rainfall data in CWMS models (BV, TR, BS, NF, GF pool forecasts) SWL coordinated NWS and Corps CWMS inflow and release forecasts to sanity check pool forecasts, future collaboration for refinement promising. SWL coordinated manual Toad Suck staff gage readings during DCP outage. SWL started recording and transmitting lock level data in lieu of DCP Tailwater readings (5 L&D’s)

BUILDING STRONG ® USGS Flood Coordination 29 Stream flow measurements (AR USGS) 9 Arkansas River (L&D’s / NWS forecast Points) Stream flow measurement at tributary and main stem locations in White & Little River Basins (AR & MO USGS) Spillway releases at Table Rock, Bull Shoals, & Norfork Stream flow measurement at Newport & Index Emergency Clearwater Dam (MO USGS) Between Floods, rapid deployment Clearwater Emergency Augusta, Newport, Black Rock, Booneville, Waltreak, Morrilton, Pendleton, Little Rock, Index, and other (AR USGS) Staff Gage Installation Toad Suck & Ormond L&D (AR USGS) USACE engineer X-trng with AR USGS May 2015

BUILDING STRONG ® SWL Civil Air Patrol Flights Mission: Civil Air Patrol will collect oblique aerial photography of areas of concern along the Arkansas River as the river is cresting. Cost: $1, USACE/CAP MOA Website for Data: Summary: Over three (3) days, the Arkansas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol collected XXX images at the request of the Little Rock District. Total flying time was XXX hours. One major benefit of this capability is the quick dissemination of the data to all interested parties. The photos were available on the FEMA/CAP mapping service website 3-4 hours after the crew returned to base. The photography has been used by USACE, FEMA, USGS, CAP, EPA, USCG, and the State of Arkansas to support damage assessment efforts and provide situational awareness of the flood event. Specific benefits that have been identified by USACE include: Documenting impacts to USACE infrastructure. Estimating velocities and/or head differentials across critical infrastructure to assist with future risk assessments. Checking assumptions at river gages that were damaged by the high flow. (Some assumptions were proved correct while other assumptions were wrong) Helping trouble-shoot phone calls from the public about flooded areas. Identify areas for post flood high-water marking. The high-water marks will be used to calibrate H&H models and will allow more accurate modelling of future events. Documenting impacts to improve economic models. 1 Jan 2 Jan 4 Jan Residential flooding near Morrilton, AR Data as of: Jan 16 Toad Suck L&D near Conway, AR CAP Sorties in Arkansas

BUILDING STRONG ® USACE Flood Coordination Morning and Evening reservoir status SWD Water Management SWT for MKARNs & Little River Arkansas Highway Department OPMs SWL District senior leaders MVD (MVM, MVK, MVS) SWPA – more use of spillways to allow SWPA flexibility Arkansas Game & Fish Commission USGS Red River Valley Association Congressional coordination

BUILDING STRONG ® Little Rock District Water Management Webpage Current Conditions: Summary of lake elevations, flood storage in use, and trend For SWL lakes; and river stage flood stage, and regulating stage, with trend for key river gage stations. Daily Reports: Current forecasts for Lakes and the Arkansas River (MKARNs) Real-Time Data: Graphical or tabular data for reservoirs, MKARNS, or stream gages

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USACE Little Rock District Mobile APP  Find the latest Corps of Engineers' lake levels, releases and forecasts needed to enjoy a day of fishing, boating and recreation in the Little Rock District.  Industry shippers, anglers, boaters and paddlers now have the latest river stage and flow rates for their favorite rivers and creeks on a smart phone or tablet.  Use the SWPA icon to view hydropower generation schedules for the next day or the USGS icon to view stream gage forecasts. Search USACE Little Rock