State and federal officials in Illinois will use a $95.2 million grant to stabilize levees that protect Metro East communities.
The St. Louis Army Corps of Engineers and local levee districts have been trying over the last decade to prevent water from seeping under and behind the in Illinois. Scientists expect and hard structures, such as levees, .
The Corps of Engineers and local levee district officials recently restored the levees鈥� ability to protect against 100-year floods, which have a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year. The latest federal investment through the Water Resources Development Act will strengthen the levee system to the 500-year level, which protects against floods that have a 0.2 percent chance of happening in any given year.
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鈥淲e鈥檙e not raising any levees,鈥� said Chuck Etwert, chief supervisor of construction and works at the Southwestern Illinois Flood-Prevention District Council. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just stabilizing them, improving them to prevent that seepage either through the levees or underneath the levees.鈥�
Local and federal officials expect to complete the work in 2022. It will involve building cut-off walls, relief wells, berms and pump systems to stabilize the levees.
In 2007, the Federal Emergency Management Agency notified Metro East levee districts that the levees would lose the agency鈥檚 100-year flood-protection accreditation unless they addressed the underseepage problems. Without FEMA accreditation, residents and businesses would have to purchase flood insurance. Local lawmakers said that losing for the region.
Since then, state and federal agencies have spent more than $170 million to repair the levees.
鈥淲e have seen steady job growth over the past two years,鈥� Madison County board chairman Kurt Prenzler said. 鈥淲e do have really something to protect. We have pipelines, we have railroads, we have tremendous infrastructure.鈥�
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