BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has partially opened two of the Fort Peck Dam’s spillway gates to relieve the rising water level in the reservoir.

The Billings Gazette reports Fort Peck had been holding back water on the upper Missouri River because of this year’s flooding downstream in South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

The water in the dam had reached an elevation of nearly 2,247 feet (685 meters), with the top of the gates at 2,250 feet (686 meters).

Opening the gates on Monday brings the amount of water moving through the dam to 15,000 cubic feet per second (425 cubic meters per second). The corps’ Darin McMurry says that will likely be the level through August.

Last year’s peak releases from Fort Peck dam were 20,000 cubic feet per second (566 cubic meters per second).

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Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com

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