Monitoring the rising waters at Saylorville Lake

As the rains kept rolling through the Des Moines River watershed, the level of Saylorville Lake north of Des Moines kept rising. The land you see on the far shore is actually a pretty tall earthen dam, most of which is under the water. Behind the land to the right is the concrete spillway that will allow the water to go over the top without endangering the dam. When that happens, the water level in the river below the dam is no longer affected by the dam. The prediction was that water would be going over the dam soon so Joel and I headed out to take a look; we weren't the only ones!