TEXARKANA -- As the Red River rises, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Vicksburg District has reactivated a team nicknamed the Levee Stompers that checks the security of the levees in the Texarkana region.
The levee stompers include a team of Corps employees who check levees in the Texarkana and Garland areas on the Red River.
The teams will be activated today to watch as the Red River rises.
The river at Index north of Texarkana is expected to crest 1 foot above flood stage on Saturday, said Greg Raimondo, a spokesman from the Corps' Vicksburg District.
The teams check the levees in 12-hour shifts during daylight.
"We call them levee stompers because they walk the levees checking for seepage," Raimondo said.
The teams provide technical support to the levee boards and state and local officials in the Texarkana sector of the river.
In the first round of Red River flooding this year, the levee boards in the Texarkana and Garland areas completed filling more than 20 low areas. The levee patrols inspect the levees for sand boils and seepage, Raimondo said.
"The cooperation between the levee boards and the Corps has been fantastic," he said.
The most significant event was a bank cave-in near Garland.
"We put 230 large sandbags in place. It was a precaution measure and protected the bank in that area," he said.
The National Weather Service predicts the river will crest about 7 a.m. Saturday, said Richard Jones, flood site commander for the Corps of Engineers.
"We have teams with our levee district partners in four-wheel-drive vehicles, on ATVs and on foot keeping a close eye on the levees as the river rises," Jones said.
The Vicksburg District coordinates actions with the Tulsa and Little Rock districts. The Tulsa District controls the reservoirs on the upper Red River and has responsibility for inspecting levees on the Texas side of the the river. The Little Rock District controls the flow of Millwood Lake into the Red River via the Little River.
The elevation of Lake Texoma was 644.57 feet and falling Tuesday afternoon. The pool is forecast to fall to 644 feet by today. This projection was made considering scheduled releases, the ungated spillway discharge and no additional rainfall in the drainage basin above Denison Dam at Texoma, said Paul Balkenbush, environmental specialist for the Corps of Engineers at Lake Texoma.
Releases through both hydropower generators are being made at full capacity of 9,000 cubic feet per second; a release through two flood conduits is being made at 37,600 cubic feet per second total; and a release over the spillway is occurring at about 62,000 cubic feet per second. The discharge over the spillway decreases as the pool elevation does.
The aggregate release from Lake Texoma -- including releases from the generators, flood conduits and spillway -- is about 108,600 cubic feet per second.
The schedule of releases through hydropower generators and the flood conduits is subject to conditions at Lake Texoma, downstream river stage conditions, and the condition of other reservoirs in the lower Red River basin.
Flow from the Washita River at Durwood, Okla., and Red River at Gainesville, Texas, into Lake Texoma is about 38,221 feet and decreasing.
State Desk on 06/25/2015