At the hearing, members of Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers, and Missouri River Basin property owners gave their testimony on the issue.

In a press conference after the hearing, South Dakota Representative Kristi Noem criticized the Corps of Engineers' lack of warning to residents living along the Missouri River.

Noem says, "What we are looking forward to is at the end of this year, we are going to have an internal review that the Army Corps of Engineers is doing, but also an external review. There are people sitting on the outside that are evaluating them and will be coming forward with recommendations as well. I understand this is a complicated river system, but also we need to be much more accountable with how the Army Corps of Engineers makes its decisions."

The Corps says they're expecting to release a final operational plan for 2012 by mid-December. That plan will be designed around feedback the Corps has received at public meetings.

-Brendyn Medina