The Cherry Creek Reservoir was flushed for sediments Wednesday, adding 70 millions gallons of rushing water into the creek along the bike path.
It began at 9 a.m. when Gate 3 at the Cherry Creek Dam just south of Interstate 225 in Aurora let loose at 1300 cubic feet per second.
That's not near Niagra Falls' speed, but it is a lot faster than the dams usually release water, and the nearby school and golf course were notified. On a normal day, less than 5 million gallons of water gets released from the reservoir into the creek.
“We've warned them not to cross the creek because obviously it’s moving faster than normal and to make sure that they understand that the water’s coming really fast and it can be a little bit dangerous," said Scott Franklin, a Water Resource Engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Katie Seefus is the manager of the Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District office and she said the operation is necessary to ensure proper operation of the outlet gates.
Five gates in all will be flushed, with various rates of rushing water - from 300 cubic feet per second to 1,300 cubic feet per second.
The dam will be back to normal operations by 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.
