Significant and unseasonably late snowpack accumulated in the area in 2009. As snowpack melted and other precipitation added up, water levels at both of the regions reservoirs rose significantly. Jamestown Reservoir peaked on April 23rd, 2009 at a record level of 1,492.3 feet (pictured), which was 4 feet below the crest of the emergency spillway and 5.3 feet higher than the previous record of 1,487 feet set in May, 1997. The Dam was completed in 1953 and prior to this day water had never reached the glory hole spillway.
The peak daily inflow into the Jamestown Reservoir was 10,800 cubic feet per second and into Pipestem it was 9,200 cubic feet per second. Without the dams in place, the total discharge in Jamestown would have been 20,000 cubic feet per second. During the 2009 flood fight it is estimated that the dams prevented $70 million in damages in the city. The flow volume at the Jamestown gauge for 2009 was 520,000 acre feet. This far exceeds the previous record flow volume of 420,000 acre feet set in 1997.
Significant and unseasonably late snowpack accumulated in the area in 2009. As snowpack melted and other precipitation added up, water levels at both of the regions reservoirs rose significantly. Jamestown Reservoir peaked on April 23rd, 2009 at a record level of 1,492.3 feet (pictured), which was 4 feet below the crest of the emergency spillway and 5.3 feet higher than the previous record of 1,487 feet set in May, 1997. The Dam was completed in 1953 and prior to this day water had never reached the glory hole spillway.
