Wappapello Lake was hovering just below recreation pool by Tuesday afternoon, following an interruption to normal gatehouse operations over the holiday weekend.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warned visitors over the weekend to use caution as the lake level had dropped below normal summer pool of 359.74 feet, said Operations Manager Bart Dearborn.
“We had some debris affect the gatehouse gates in the last week,” Dearborn said Tuesday. “As we went into Friday, we were addressing those concerns but it led to some additional releases.”
The lake was releasing more water than the Corps wanted because certain gates could not operate as intended, Dearborn said. This is an issue that does happen occasionally, he said.
“We saw a lot of driftwood debris this spring,” Dearborn said. “There was a large mat of woody debris that came down the lake and some of it was released through the gatehouse.
“It’s pretty normal for a high water event to carry debris and the amount that came down this spring was fairly substantial. We had another high water event in August.”
The lake level dropped about 4 inches in total, he said, which was not extreme.
“(This situation) is not uncommon and wasn’t anything unusual for us,” he said. “It was mainly the concern about people coming in for the holiday and familiarity with the reservoir.
“We just wanted to make sure people knew it was a little bit low and they could be cautious.”
Workers were able to access the problem area through internal gatehouse stairways, using safety equipment, Dearborn said. The debris was cleared and operations were able to return to normal.