The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, has awarded a $7.5 million contract for the initial breach repair along the Missouri River at Levee Unit L-575 near Percival, Iowa.
The purpose of the breach repair is to provide temporary flood protection at the specified breached area of the levee.
The contract was awarded to Western Contracting Corporation of Sioux City, Iowa.
“ This award is the first of a series of initial breach closure projects to reduce the risk of further flooding of critical infrastructure, such as I-29 in Iowa, ” said Bret Budd, Chief, Omaha District Systems Restoration Team .
The next breach closure project, also on L575, is currently out for proposal and award is expected next week.
This will be followed closely by awards on L611-614 and L601, which is subject to availability of funding and the levee sponsors securing real estate and borrow materials.
In parallel to these immediate actions the Omaha District has begun planning of the permanent levee repairs to bring the levees damaged by the March flood to the same level of authorized flood risk reduction that the systems had prior to the flood.
The Corps of Engineers expects that the majority of the breach repair fill material will be dredged from the Missouri River.