The Boise River, which has been over flood stage for months, will drop below that level Thursday. The river has dropped dramatically this week.
The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been dropping the amount of water released into the river all week. The river started dropping over the weekend, then fell 500 cubic feet per second on Tuesday and 1,000 cfs on Wednesday.
It will drop another 500 cfs Thursday morning. That will drop the river level at the Glenwood Bridge to 6,750 cfs, that brings it below flood stage which is 7,000 cfs.
It’s been months since the river was that low. Thanks to extraordinary snowfall this winter, the river hit flood stage the week of March 6, though it was high enough in February to flood parts of Boise’s Greenbelt. At one point, it hit 9,500 cfs.
Officials say snowmelt is decreasing in the Boise reservoir system and it's believed there’s enough space for what’s left. Reservoirs are at 95 percent of capacity.
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