Update:
Evacuation advisory expanded to the Rocky Ford Mobile Home Park.
Original:
An evacuation advisory has been issued for the Dix Addition in the Northview area of Manhattan as of the 6 o’clock hour Wednesday.
Riley County Emergency Management Director Pat Collins says projections show Tuttle Creek Lake possibly rising over 1136 feet above mean sea level tomorrow, which has prompted the advisory. Lake levels as of 7 p.m. show Tuttle at an elevation of 1135.08 feet. Outflows from the tubes will be increased to 25,000 cfs to attempt to keep levels from reaching that point.
Collins says this is precautionary and not currently an emergency situation.
The advisory includes “some of those streets that are in the Knoxberry, Blueberry, Hackberry areas that have seen flooding in the past — it also includes some of Countryside Mobile Home Park.”
He reminds residents that this is an advisory, not an order and that there’s “nothing certain yet, but we do believe we could see an evacuation in the next 24 to 72 hours if the water continues to rise or the releases continue to rise.
“We don’t know exactly what that’s going to do other than it appears it may get some water on some of the streets in the Dix Addition and depending on what the outflow is it may actually cross Casement and block some of Casement.”
Collins says this could change depending on how things play out between today and tomorrow. Projections show the water may get close to homes at the end of the Dix Addition which were affected first during the 1993 flood, but that they don’t know for sure whether residences or businesses could be impacted at this time. He says the Kansas River is lower than in 1993 (at 17.09 feet and falling as of 7 p.m.), leading to their uncertainty on that front.
If the levels continue to rise, Collins says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may need to allow outflows from the spillway gates.
“We have went ahead and asked the Red Cross to go ahead and organize […] and open their shelter at Westview [Community] Church and it should be open by 9:15 [p.m.] if someone does want to go ahead and evacuate early.”
Westview Community Church is located at 615 Gillespie Drive.
This is an advisory, and not an order. Collins says this advisory is just precautionary at the moment and that this is not an emergency at this point.
KMAN will update as new information becomes available, both online and on-air.
