Riley County Emergency Management Director Pat Collins told county commissioners Monday morning that his department has kept its eye on rising river and lake levels in the area.
While there is overflow from Tuttle Creek Lake into the spillway, Collins said levels are not threatening.
“It’s kind of a normal thing,” he said. “It happens every seven to eight years that we get water in that spillway.”
According to Mary Knapp at the K-State Weather Data Library, the Manhattan area has received 21.19 inches of precipitation so far this year, which is 5.82 inches above normal. For the month so far, 5.68 inches of rain has fallen just 15 days into it. The monthly average for rainfall in the region in June is 5.7 inches.
But it was during May when rainfall really let loose.
Riley County saw 10.72 inches last month, doubling the region’s average of 5.09 inches.
Tuttle Creek Lake’s elevation Monday was 1,107 feet with an outflow of 16,000 cubic feet per second. Collins said water reaches the spillway when the lake reaches an elevation of 1,102 feet and that it still has a little ways to go before there is cause for serious alarm.
“It’s got a little bit to go, six or seven feet to go,” he said. “We will probably start doing something if it gets towards 1,114 feet. We’ll start putting out a daily briefing.”
Chances of rain are present throughout the week, but odds are no greater than 20 percent and highs are projected to be in the lower 90s towards the weekend with sunshine breaking out Thursday.
