Levee Breach Repairs Underway as Scheduled
By Corporate Communications

A crew member from the St. Paul District's, Dredge Dubuque, shapes dredged sand from the Mississippi River during repairs to the Two Rivers Levee breach on the Mississippi.
A crew member from the St. Paul District's, Dredge Dubuque, shapes dredged sand from the Mississippi River during repairs to the Two Rivers Levee breach on the Mississippi.
December 22 -- The Rock Island District is engaged in recovery operations following severe flooding over most of its area 78,000-square-mile area of operations. More than 200 counties in five states were heavily impacted by the flooding which caused levee overtoppings at more than a dozen sites. The District responded during the flood by deploying nearly 300 employees throughout the system to provide technical and flood fight command support, and provided nearly 13 million sandbags, 100 pumps, and more than 30 miles of plastic to assist local communities and levee districts in their flood fight effort. Federal infrastructure was also heavily damaged by the flooding to include District reservoirs and recreation sites, wildlife areas, and the locks and dams along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.

In the midst of the June 2008 flood while levees and property were still underwater, media from all over the country and globe had begun requesting levee repair schedules from the Corps. While we could only base our first best estimate on our experience from the 1993 Flood repairs to damaged levees, which was by year's end, we were still cautious noting that the Corps could not develop a reliable schedule until the water receded, engineers' assessments were made, damage and repair reports were written and approved, contracts developed and a variety of additional environmental and economic issues were considered.

After the waters receded and the extent of flood damages were realized, the Rock Island District was able to develop a realistic schedule for restoring levees to their pre-flood design and for the repair of erosion and scour holes, pump stations, public and federal infrastructure, and other flood-related damages under the purview of the District. While all levee flood recovery work may take several years to complete, it is, and has been, the District's schedule to have all breaches closed by 21 March 2009. The weekly "2008 Flood Recovery Update" on the internet @ Weekly Status Report provides an extensive list of projects and schedules for all flood-related repairs of the Rock Island District. Government facility repair work is being prioritized and performed based on risk levels caused by the damages.