Levee updates needed, deadlines loom
Managing editor
Thirty-five years ago, the Marion Flood Control Project was conceived to provide a dike and ditch on Luta Creek. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received $1.3 million in 1977 to pay for the project.
Now, the corps and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are requiring Marion and all other cities in the country to have aging dikes inspected and pruned.
The City of Marion allotted $40,000 in the 2011 budget for those improvements but that appears to be only a drop in the bucket of what it’s actually going to cost — nearly $100,000.
Marion City Council decided Monday to move forward with hiring a local contractor and a qualified engineer — the only one in the state qualified to do the work. Hett Construction was given approval to complete dirt work and remove concrete structures as recommended by the engineer for $38,840. Engineering firm Wilson and Company was hired for $48,655.
There are two phases to the project — meeting FEMA requirements for an updated flood map and meeting the Corps of Engineers drainage mandates — all of which must be completed by June 11 with an inspection planned in August.
City administrator Doug Kjellin explained the city doesn’t have the luxury of going out for bids for the mandatory repair of the levee. Other contractors had been contacted for dirt work and removal of concrete structures, but their cost estimates were higher than the local contractor had, he said.
Also included in the bid is the re-structuring of four additional drainage structures on the west side of the levee as required by the corps.
Trees also must be removed from the levee canal. The city crew removed trees on the north side of the levee but many trees must be removed south of K-256/Main Street to Third Street. It is unlikely that city crews can clear the canal before the June deadline, Kjellin said.
Without levee certification, property owners in the valley with federally subsidized mortgages will be required to carry flood insurance, including the city’s water plant, partially funded by USDA Rural Development, a federal entity.
According to the city’s flood procedures, the flood levees prevent flooding from the Cottonwood River and Mud and Clear creeks. Engineering reports state that the former Cottonwood River channel and bar inside the levee can hold water produced by 12 inches of rain with no release. More than 12 inches could result in predicted minor flooding of the valley.
Before the dike was constructed, structures in the valley were subject to flooding from minor accumulation.