OMAHA, Neb. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, awarded a $6 million contract Friday, to repair a 1,200 foot breach on levee L611-614 south of Highway 34 in Mills County, Iowa. The repair will protect critical infrastructure along the Missouri River.
The purpose of the breach repair is to provide temporary flood risk reduction at the specified breached area of the levee. The contract was awarded to Western Contracting, Sioux City, Iowa. This particular stretch of levee has suffered extensive damage during this year’s high runoff event.
“L611-614 is one of the four sites the Corps prioritized for the initial repairs,” said Jeremy Szynskie, project manager, Omaha District System Restoration Team. “We are committed to working toward the restoration of our flood control systems and we will continue the work aggressively until they are fully restored.”
The initial repair will provide flood risk reduction to areas behind the levee including work that is ongoing on Highway 34 and I-29. The Omaha District is working closely with the M&P Drainage District who is the project sponsor, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission on this project.
The Omaha District expects that the majority of the breach repair fill material will be sourced by using land-based equipment from material deposited by the March floods.
The work is anticipated to be completed within 45 calendar days after the Notice-to-Proceed.
In parallel to repair efforts, the Omaha District has begun field assessments and 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.
There are more than 500 miles of levees on the Missouri, Platte and Elkhorn rivers, and tributaries that have experienced significant flood damage. Due to the magnitude of damage along these levees, repair of the levee system efforts will take an extended period of time to execute. Levees must be active in the Public Law 84-99 program to be eligible for federal funding for repairs.
Omaha District’s focus remains on ensuring the safety of citizens and communicating the conditions on the river systems to all of our partners and stakeholders. The Corps continues to provide flood fight assistance to state, local and tribal government agencies.
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/.
Release no. 19-046