North Platte Recedes Slightly In Casper [AUDIO]

After a month of running near flood stage, the North Platte River through Casper has actually gone down a few inches. Natrona County Emergency Management Coordinator Lt. Stewart Anderson said the release upstream was reduced.

Bu Rec decrease in flow:

"Since the forecasted runoff is starting to lessen up a little bit and what they've got coming into Seminoe is going to be a little less, the Bureau of Reclamation backed off the flows from Grey Reef Dam downstream from 8,000 cubic feet a second down to about 7,500 cubic feet a second so it's gone down about four inches."

Lt. Anderson says the Bureau of Reclamation plans to keep the flow of 7,500 cubic feet per second during most of July. When asked if the crisis is past, he said it's still too soon to say, and the river is still running high and fast.

Not out of the woods yet:

"We're still kind of in the high preparedness, it still could turn into a crisis type of mode. We're just getting into that monsoonal season now with the different storms building and we're going to keep a very close eye on what those rainstorms contribute to the North Platte between here and Grey Reef, so we're not totally out of the woods but we can see the daylight at the edge."

Lt. Anderson said undercutting of river banks is an additional danger along the river.

In other words, still be careful:

"We do want to caution folks; the river is still way higher than what it would be normally this time of year, both in depth as well as current, and it still can be a very dangerous river just to go float on a tube or what not."