As of 6pm Wednesday evening we, in Natrona County, along with the rest of the state, all the way to the western border, are officially on Flood Watch.

Natrona County Emergency Manager, Lt Stew Anderson, says releases from Grey Reef will continue to increase incrementally. But he says rumors that there have been any evacuations locally are false.

"We had a couple calls to our 911 center that people had heard that there were National Guard people out in Paradise Valley knocking on doors and having people evacuate and that is totally false. And in fact, in Natrona County we are not using any National Guard resources what so ever."

He says the warm temperatures combined with the increased releases have pushed us into the watch category.  Eight feet is considered flood stage. Anderson says the river will likely be over seven feet by Friday.

Sandbagging for the Mills water plant has been completed. As a critical piece of infrastructure, he says, that was a priority.

"Since its a critical structure we did want to sand bag it to protect it from having to shut it down or from getting contamination in it. That's what flood waters will do.  You have to shut those facilities down and/or they can become contaminated and they have to be cleaned etc before they're able to operate again."

Releases from Grey Reef will be increased this week.
o June 2nd to 6850 CFS.
o June 3rd to 7100 CFS.
o June 6th to 7150 CFS
o June 7th to 7350 CFS
o June 8th to 7500 CFS
o June 17th to 7750 CFS
o June 21st to 8000 CFS
• When the release reaches 8000 CFS, the depth of the river may increase by as
much as 1 foot to 1 ½ feet.

Further information may be found at www.natrona.net/flood or www.casperwy.gov or

by calling the Natrona County Emergency Management Office at 307-235-9205.

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