Money to repair levees will flow

The money is coming.

Months of fretting over lack of federal funds to repair flood-damaged Missouri River levees is giving way to a flush of guarded optimism, now that Congress and the president have authorized $1.7 billion in disaster aid to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The money will be used across the country, but a significant portion is aimed at the ravaged Missouri River basin. The amount destined for the basin should be known within the next few weeks. Already, $50 million is on its way.

“It's wonderful news, is what it is,” said Cathy Crain, mayor of Hamburg, Iowa.

The town of 1,200 averted disaster this summer thanks to a hastily reinforced backup barrier that protected it it from massive breaks in the main levee. Other communities, including Percival and Bartlett in Iowa and Big Lake and Corning in Missouri were not as lucky.

The hundreds of homes and tens of thousands of acres flooded this summer have remained at heightened risk to flooding next spring because the corps lacked the money it needed to mount a plan for complete repairs.

“It's wonderful for anybody who has any commerce along Interstate 29, anybody who has any industry along I-29, or any farming,” Crain said. “We could have a chance of keeping the Missouri River in its banks, and that's what we need to keep commerce moving on Interstate 29.”

Signed into law Friday as House Resolution 3672, the bill already is making a difference.

Corps of Engineers Brig. Gen. John R. McMahon announced this week that the corps would be able to fully repair most Missouri River levees in the federal levee program. McMahon is commander of the corps' Northwestern Division, which oversees the Missouri River watershed.

Until this week, the corps had been saying money was so tight it would only be able to repair damaged levees to a 25-year frequency of flooding and only those levees that were high priorities.

Now, most levees in the federal program will be restored to their original height, meant to guard against a 1-in-100-year flood, a flood with a 1 percent likelihood each year. How quickly that work can be done isn't yet known.

With this money, the levee will be built about 3 feet higher and significantly wider, making it more robust. Taller levees also have wider bases which makes them more massive and therefore better able to withstand a river's rise. No levee, however, guarantees 100 percent protection against flooding, officials stress. They simply reduce risk.

Glen Stenzel, a veteran of levee protection along the Missouri River, said this is the best news the region has received since flooding began last spring.

“It's tremendously important,” he said. “It gives people more security.”

The biggest problem now, he said, is time. Stenzel is doubtful all three breaks in the Percival-Hamburg levee can be repaired by the start of spring, but the good news is that lack of money won't delay the work.

Problems with right-of-way are slowing work on the southernmost of three holes in the levee, according to Stenzel and the corps.

With this funding, though, the corps expects to have the Percival-Hamburg levee back to its original height by March 1, said Kim Thomas, chief of emergency management for the corps. The only hitch could be the right-of-way issue, she said.

The bill signed Friday by President Barack Obama targets $802 million for levee repairs in the Mississippi River and tributaries, $388 million for flood control and coastal emergencies and $534 million for operations and maintenance activities. Included within those categories are levees along the Missouri River and the six upstream dams, said corps spokeswoman Clare Perry.

Although damage estimates along the Missouri River are a moving target, Perry said the latest analysis indicates federally approved levees and the six mainsteam dams sustained at least $531 million in damage. Of that, $331 million occurred along levees, and the six dams endured about $200 million, she said. Around the dams, most of the damage has to do with erosion.

Prior to this week's announcement, the corps had scrounged up about $120 million from different parts of its budget to launch repairs.

McMahon said this news should not lull people into a false sense of security. Communities and individuals should remain prepared for the possibility of flooding next year.

“Though we can't complete all the necessary repairs before the next runoff season, we will work as hard as we can to ensure those projects with the highest life and safety priorities are ready and in place,” he said.

From there, he said, the remainder will be completed as soon as possible.

Contact the writer:
402-444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com

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