WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Four levees damaged during the 2017 flood season, located within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District area of operations, received a total of approximately $3.3 million in cumulative funding for flood-related repairs under Public Law 115-123, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, signed into law February 9, 2018.
1) Heise-Roberts Levee, on the Snake River in Jefferson County, Idaho
2) Carmen Levee, on the Salmon River in Lemhi County, Idaho
3) Gooding Levee, on the Big Wood River in Lincoln County, Idaho
4) Waitsburg-Coppei Flood Project, on the Touchet River in Walla Walla County, Washington
These levees in the Walla Walla District, and dozens of other projects across the nation, will be funded to mitigate damages resulting from flooding or other natural disasters. The current list of projects is posted at
http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Budget/ as “Short-Term Repairs” under "Supplemental Appropriations for Disasters 2018." The nationwide list will be updated as additional information becomes available.
“This supplemental funding enables us to conduct these flood-damage repairs and help keep communities safe,” said Alan Feistner, deputy district engineer. Rehabilitation of flood-damaged levees is authorized under the Civil Emergency Management (CEM) Program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) under the authorities of 33 U.S.C. 701n (commonly referred to as Public Law (P.L.) 84-99).
Currently, District staff are facilitating flood fighting work under P.L. 84-99 to address severe erosion at a location on the Heise-Roberts Levee System. A USACE contract for emergency flood fighting was expedited and awarded on Friday afternoon, May 18. As of Monday afternoon, May 20, USACE contractors have stabilized the 300-feet-long by 15-feet-wide section of levee that was eroded away by seasonal high flows in the Snake River. In some locations, the levee had been eroded more than 20 feet in height from the top of the levee -- about 8 feet of the levee is visible above the water’s surface.
Complete rehabilitation of damaged sections of the Heise-Roberts Levee System, and the other three levees identified above, is planned to occur in the near future using funding from the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
BACKGROUND -- See HQ-USACE News Release #18-033
https://www.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/News-Release-Article-View/Article/1527223/us-army-corps-of-engineers-identifies-additional-short-term-natural-disaster-re/
Public Law 115-123 provided USACE a total of $17.398 billion in six appropriations accounts: Investigations; Construction; Mississippi River and Tributaries; Operation and Maintenance; Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies; and Expenses. Of that amount, USACE will use approximately $424 million of the $810 million provided in the Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies account to repair damage to 48 locally owned flood risk management projects in 11 states and one territory.
“The projects announced today and allocation of funds will enable the Corps to continue the repair work it has started to alleviate the impacts of past disasters on projects that are important to human safety and flood-prone property,” said Mr. R.D. James, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.
This is the second set of short-term repair work that USACE has announced with the funds provided in Public Law 115-123. USACE announced the first set of short-term repair work on April 30, with an initial allocation of approximately $360 million of the $608 million provided in the Operation and Maintenance account to repair damages to USACE projects resulting from natural disasters and to perform emergency dredging of shoaled material deposited at USACE navigation projects by natural disasters. Those funds will be used to address the priority O&M needs identified by USACE with that announcement, at 31 projects in 11 states.
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