Levees in 27 states at risk; could trigger flood insurance mandate

The Army Corps of Engineers reported recently that 122 levees from Rhode Island to California are at risk of failing, potentially affecting thousands of people and requiring millions of dollars in repairs. Six states in the Midwest are affected including Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, North Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska.

Residents of communities near some levees could be in danger and have to pay more for insurance, said Butch Kinerney of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) national flood insurance program.

Should the Corps determine a levee is at risk of failing, homeowners in the area could be required to buy flood insurance if repairs are not made.

Twenty-seven states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had threatened levees, though only two had more than a handful. California led the list with 37 and Washington state had 19.Nebraska had one on the list: a Republican River levee near Bartley in Red Willow County.

Associated Press story revealed that in one Nebraska area, East Grand Forks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has certified new dike systems. The certification as “functionally complete” is the start of a process that will allow property owners to dispense with flood insurance. FEMA, must first agree with the certification. Corps project manager Bonnie Greenleaf said other East Grand Forks areas will not be ready for certification until the fall because of soil instability problems. The $417 million dike systems will protect the two cities in the area from a flood equal to the 1997 Red River flood, which devastated the area and led the government to build the new dikes.

In other regions, Corps officials in Kansas City, Mo., said that the levee was no longer under federal control.

Though many levees were in rural areas, some were in metropolitan regions including the District of Columbia; Springfield, Mass.; Stockton and Sacramento, Calif.; and some suburbs of San Francisco.

California’s capital, Sacramento, faces significant flooding threats due to the deterioration of levees protecting the flood-prone Central Valley.

The list did not include any levees from Louisiana. The New Orleans area was ravaged by flooding after Hurricane Katrina caused levees to collapse in 2005.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., sent a letter to President Bush complaining that levee work in New Orleans is underfunded and the Corps was far behind on several projects.

But Maj. Gen. Don Riley, director of civil works for the Corps, told reporters that levees in the New Orleans area would be adequate once the current work is completed. He said Mississippi River levees are subject to very stringent programs and none in Louisiana shows any deficiencies.

Riley said he could not say how many people potentially could be at risk from the levees on the list. He offered no estimates for the potential costs of repairs, but said the federal government would not cover the bill for local governments.

“It would be a community responsibility to seek the funding that’s required,” Riley said. He said the Corps does not have the money to maintain levees owned by communities, and keeps up only those on federal land.

Larry Larson, director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, said it is clear the repair bill could run into the millions and that thousands of people are potentially at risk from the levees on the list.

Riley said each community had a one-year grace period to correct the deficiencies, but must file a plan within three months for how it intends to repair the problem.

Communities near the levees have been notified they have received an “unacceptable maintenance inspection rating.” Problems can include animal burrows, trees, erosion and the movement of flood walls.

The Corps has told communities they need to take care of routine levee maintenance, Larson said, adding he was glad the Corps was publicizing the problems.

The Corps’s Riley said the list covers only levees with unacceptable maintenance problems. He said a larger project authorized by Congress last year will produce information about other levees that may have stability problems or “if the environment around it has changed.”

A FEMA spokesperson said people living near the levees should have an evacuation plan, a family emergency plan and a disaster supply kit, along with flood insurance.

The Corps is responsible for inspecting about 2,000 levees covering about 13,000 miles.

When the Corps’ inspections turn up deficiencies, it notifies FEMA, which can declare a community to be in a flood plain. That requires homeowners in the flood plan to buy flood insurance.

If residents bought the insurance before the community’s designation changes, they could pay a lower rate. FEMA can give communities up to two years to correct the problems or contest the finding that the levee is not sound. During that period, residents are not required to purchase flood insurance.

Associated Press writers Erica Werner in Washington, D.C., Samantha Young in Sacramento, Calif., Cain Burdeau in New Orleans, Michelle Smith in Providence, R.I., and Nelson Lampe in Omaha, Neb., contributed to this report.

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