News Release
| Release Number: | 06-011 |
| Dated: | 1/23/2006 |
| Contact: | Jennifer A. Sowell, 503-808-4510 |
PORTLAND, Ore. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work near Libby and Englewood dikes in Coos County this morning as part of emergency flood fighting operations.
Temporary repairs made to the Libby Dike by the Libby Drainage District after it failed in late December are not expected to hold through another series of very high tides, which are likely to occur over the weekend. Oregon Emergency Management requested the emergency operations, giving the Corps the lead on flood fight operations.
This joint project is the result of several weeks of intense effort involving representatives from the Corps of Engineers, Coos County, the City of Coos Bay, the Libby Drainage District and the Englewood Diking District, said David Koch, Coos County Counsel.
“The Corps in particular, is taking a proactive approach in evaluating this problem and proposing solutions that will protect these homes from flooding when the dike breaches again," he said.
The Corps plans to build a cross-dike structure south of the houses on Old Wireless Lane to isolate the area of the expected breach. The Corps also will strengthen an existing dike on the east side of the street to further protect those houses from flooding.
“The situation has become critical enough to warrant our emergency flood fighting to help prevent any further flooding and property damage in the area,” said John Craig, Corps project manager in Coos Bay. “We are receiving excellent cooperation from all involved in these flood fight operations.”
For additional flood protection, the city and county are building two berm structures, one along Southwest Boulevard and another along Shinglehouse Slough Road.
These series of structures are temporary flood fight measures to isolate homes in order to prevent flooding in the event of a breach. The work is expected to take 72 hours.
"The City of Coos Bay sincerely appreciates the Army Corps of Engineers for their efforts to repair a broken dike system south of Coos Bay,” said Scott McClure, Coos Bay city manager. “The Corps is addressing an issue that has caused significant damage to people's homes in the south Coos Bay area and the speed at which they were able to mobilize to get repairs going is amazing.”
After these flood fight operations are completed, the diking districts have two options, they can upgrade and complete the construction and obtain permits to maintain the temporary structures, or remove them and repair the existing permanent dike, said Koch.