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Corps awards contract for initial breach repair for portion of Levee L-575

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District
Published April 14, 2019

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, has awarded a $7.5 million contract for the initial breach repair along the Missouri River at Levee Unit L-575 near Percival, Iowa, to protect critical infrastructure.

The purpose of the breach repair is to provide temporary flood protection at the specified breached area of the levee. The contract was awarded to Western Contracting Corporation of Sioux City, Iowa. This particular stretch of levee has suffered extensive damage during this year’s high runoff event.

“This award is the first of a series of initial breach closure projects to reduce the risk of further flooding of critical infrastructure, such as I-29 in Iowa,” said Bret Budd, Chief, Omaha District Systems Restoration Team.

The next breach closure project, also on L575, is currently out for proposal and award is expected next week. This will be followed closely by awards on L611-614 and L601, which is subject to availability of funding and the levee sponsors securing real estate and borrow materials. In parallel to these immediate actions the Omaha District has begun planning of the permanent levee repairs to bring the levees damaged by the March flood to the same level of authorized flood risk reduction that the systems had prior to the flood.

The Corps of Engineers expects that the majority of the breach repair fill material will be dredged from the Missouri River. The work is anticipated to be completed by sixty calendar days after Notice-to-Proceed.

The flood of 2019 set record levels for 45 river gages, including five on the Missouri River. Sixteen federal levees were overtopped and breached, an additional nine federal levees were overtopped sustaining significant damages but did not breach, and four non-federal levees were overtopped and breached. In response to this record setting event, the Omaha District commander established the Systems Restoration Team as a special execution cell to focus the vast skills and abilities of the district to engage in time-sensitive rehabilitation of flood controls structures in the Missouri River Basin.

For regular updates on the repair efforts to flood control structures in the Missouri River Basin, visit the Omaha District’s System Restoration web page at: https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Omaha-District-System-Restoration-Team/.


Contact
Omaha District Public Affairs Office
402-995-2417
Omaha.USACE-PA@usace.army.mil
1616 Capitol Ave. Omaha, NE 68102

Release no. 19-032