HAMBURG, Iowa. (KMTV) — It's been nearly a year since flooding decimated parts of Nebraska and southwestern Iowa.
Monday, crews with the Army Corps of Engineers took a major step in repairing a key levee.
Breach G on levee L575 outside of Hamburg, Iowa is officially closed. The Corps has been working day and night for the last 45 days to close up this breach.
“We still have a lot of work to do, so it will depend on what the conditions are--but we are optimistic we'll have a good flood fight this spring,” said said Army Corps of Engineers Colonel John Hudson.
Since January 11, the Corps has been repairing this 2,000-foot breach--the largest of four levee breaches on the 575 levee system.
The levee is now closed at a 10-year level of protection or a 10% probability of an event happening, but more work still needs to be done.
“By March 1 we'll have it up to its full authorized level, which is a 100-year level of protection or 1% chance of overtopping in any particular year,” said Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Hudson.
“We don't stop and we'll keep going and we'll keep going until we get full height,” said Bret Budd of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The land surrounding the levee looks like a barren wasteland after being submerged underwater for most of 2019.
Crews have pumped in 4.5 million cubic yards of sand and another million cubic yards of clay to rebuild the levee system.
Corps officials said the warmer winter helped repairs stay on schedule. If the repairs weren't finished, the levee would still be susceptible to severe flooding.
“By them being back at full level, as long as we don't have water on it for an extended period of time or heavy flows against it, we should see reasonable success at providing protection,” said Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Hudson.
According to the Corps, more than $225 million has been spent repairing the levees with $300 million more planned to be spent before the levee system is closed.
Crews are also repairing another nearby levee.
