It was close to this time last year, Manhattan saw major flooding along the Wildcat Creek area.
A year later, the area has become more prepared when it comes to flooding by installing river gauages to help monitor water levels, along with websites used to inform people on conditions.
During an interview with KMAN, Rob Ott, Manhattan City Engineer, talked about three websites that may be helpful in keeping watch of the gauges. They include the NOAA website at http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=top , the USGS website at http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/new/index.php?m=real&r=ks&w=map and the one Ott advised people to connect to, the Iris website at https://www.irisdispatch.com/users/enroll/dsp_enroll.cfm?org_id=1000.
Also during the interview, Ott also talked about the different levels of warning based on how high river waters become.
“The first is nine feet,” Ott said. “That’s kind of the action stage for those that are in emergency management; that’s when they are potentially activate the emergency operations center. Bankfull Stage is at 12 feet. So, when the river gauge at Scenic Drive is at 12 feet that means the bank is full. There’s not a lot of capacity left. Fourteen feet is Flood Stage. Water is now come up and out of the bank. Moderate Stage is at 17 feet and that’s when you are into evacuations. Then Major Stage is 23 feet, which is basically water up and running over the top of Scenic Drive.”
