COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) - Council Bluffs will need to spend an estimated $50 million to repair river and creek levees to meet federal standards, according to a city official.
City engineer Matt Cox said the estimate comes from a study that focuses on what needs to be improved on the levees, the Daily Nonpareil reported (https://bit.ly/1cIMdHM ). The levees currently hold back high waters along the Missouri River and Indian and Mosquito creeks.
“Everybody recognizes the importance, but it does come at a large cost,” he said.
Cox said the improvements are necessary to have the Federal Emergency Management Agency certify that the city’s more than 28-mile levee system is adequate. Without that certification, FEMA would redraw its city maps to show the entire west side of the city could be prone to flooding. Cox said that would force property owners there to pay high flood insurance rates.
“The alternative is worse,” he said. “The flood insurance rates that residents would have to pay could equal $50 million in two or three years. When you look at it that way, the choice is clear.”
The repairs would include replacing old pipes within the levees. Waters from the Missouri River flood in 2011 also seeped underneath the levee flowing onto adjacent ground.
There are various ways the city could pay for the repairs. There’s a state program that would allow the city to use its own sales tax revenue. There’s also the possibility of creating a storm water utility fee.
Cox intends to ask the City Council on Monday to approve the hiring of an engineering firm to oversee the work. He hopes to start repair work this year, since he said it took take years.
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Information from: The Daily Nonpareil, https://www.nonpareilonline.com
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