The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, has completed repairs to levees damaged on three of the tributaries of the Missouri River ahead of schedule.
The three projects totaling $707,000 were Pierce-North Branch of the Elkhorn River, Nebraska; Broken Bow-Mud Creek, Nebraska; and Ida Grove/Odebolt Creek, Iowa.
According to Bret Budd, Chief of the Systems Restoration Team , the flood damage to the tributary levees consisted mainly of erosion of the river side of the levees from the high flows and also damage to the crest (top) of the levees for those levees that were overtopped.
“ With three tributary projects completed, and four under construction (Western Sarpy, Cedar Creek, Scribner and Columbus) at almost $10M, USACE has made significant progress on repairing damages from the March 2019 flood ,” he said. “ We still have 15 more levee repairs projects to award on tributaries. The majority of these projects have more severe damage that require more extensive engineering and design .”
Budd added that the Omaha District is being assisted by its sister districts in Walla Walla, Portland and Chicago with those four projects, and another four projects are being design by three different private engineering firms.
All fifteen of these projects are in the design stage; waiting for real estate; or waiting for levee cost-share funds on non-Federal levee systems.
The work at Western Sarpy, Cedar Creek, Scribner and Columbus, all of which are in Nebraska, is scheduled to be completed by April 2020.