As the drought continues in west central Iowa, the Raccoon River levels continue to drop.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as of Thursday morning, the North Raccoon River near Jefferson was 5.49-feet and Buttrick Creek near Grand Junction was 4.51-feet. Greene County Conservation Director Dan Towers says the river hasn’t been this low since September of 2017.    

“But keep in mind we’ve had some above average river flows the last few years. So relative to the last few years it seems extremely low. But this is probably not that far away from what it is in July and August.”

Towers notes the river is still safe to do certain activities like canoeing and kayaking. 

“The river is clear now so you can see if there’s drop-offs or anything, you don’t want to step on or anything. So even if the river continues to drop – which I think it’s going to – if you can’t read the river right and get to where you get hung up on a sandbar, you just get out and pull your kayak til where the water gets deeper. There should be no issues with that. That’s still a very safe thing to do.”

Towers adds motor boats are not recommended to be on the river and fishing should be done from the banks at this time.