The water levels at both the Saylorville and Red Rock Resevoirs have been rising quickly, and it’s all because of this month’s warmer weather. John Holt with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Lake Red Rock tells KNIA/KRLS News that the majority of the water currently stored at the lake is what is left of the large amount of snow that blanketed Marion County and the rest of the state this winter.

The melted snow that has been collected in the Red Rock Resevoir flows in from the Des Moines River and its tributaries, which includes a basin that covers roughly a quarter of the state of Iowa and part of southern Minnesota. The purpose of reservoirs like the ones at Red Rock and Saylorville are to reduce the impact of flooding.

Holt says hopes are for the peak of the water from the snow-melt to pass by next week and allow the resevoir to store water that will come with spring rains.

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