OMAHA, Neb. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District completed an initial breach closure on levee L575 southwest of Hamburg, Iowa, late Wednesday afternoon.
This closure of breach L-575-C-I near river mile 546 stops the inflows of water, thereby allowing for the start of follow-on construction activities aimed at increasing the level of flood risk management to approximately the 4% Annual Chance Exceedance (25-yr) level for this section of the L-575 Levee System until the system can be fully rehabilitated.
This marks the 12th of 49 breaches to reach initial closure.
There are more than 500 miles of levees on the Missouri, Platte and Elkhorn rivers, and tributaries that have experienced significant flood damage since March 2019. 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. 19-111