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River and creek water levels in the Black Hills continue to rise this afternoon. At this hour, there are no reports of any of the creeks or rivers reaching dangerous flood levels.
The Little Missouri River at CampCrook is above flood stage. It is expected to crest this evening at 14.1 feet. The community does not appear to be in danger of flooding at this point.
Spotters along Elk Creek and Highway 385 in LawrenceCounty report the creek is nearly to the top of its banks. On the plains, the Belle FourcheRiver has risen two to six feet since Friday afternoon, with the greatest rises just northeast of Sturgis. Additional rises of five to nine feet are needed to reach flood stage in the Belle FourcheRiver basin. The Moreau River levels are increasing rapidly, but the river is still well below flood stage. At 1:45 central time today, the Moreau was at 5.47 feet. Flood stage is 16 feet for the Moreau.
Much of the water that had pooled behind snow and ice in the higher elevations appears to be soaking into the ground.
An urban and small stream flood advisory is in effect for Butte, Crook, Harding, Lawrence, Meade, Perkins, West Central Pennington and Ziebach Counties until 7 p.m. central time (6 p.m. mountain time) Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, two to four inches of water remain in the snow cover.
Rain showers are expected in the Black Hills tomorrow and could drop a quarter of an inch of moisture in the area.
Departments of Transportation and Corrections crews are standing by and prepared to move 5,000 sandbags to locations throughout the Black Hills and surrounding plains as needed.
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The South DakotaEmergencyOperationsCenter in conjunction with the US Geological Survey and the National Weather Service continue to monitor the water flow of the creeks and rivers in the Northern Black Hills. The public and the media will be alerted if there is any drastic change in status.
Power Restoration
At the height of the blizzard more than 15,200 customers had lost power. Currently there are total of 1,440 customers without power. It could take several more days to restore power to some of the remote customers. Utility companies must build up to 14 miles of line to restore power to some of their most remote customers.