From the Omaha World-Herald, the big news this week relates to the untold thousands of levees protecting the Mississippi and Missouri river watersheds. A significant number of these levees are not listed on any inventory by the Army Corps of Engineers- meaning no one has any kind of idea what shape they are in.
According to Robert Bea, a University of California at Berkeley levee expert, many of these levees have fallen into disrepair, and even at peak efficiency, were only able to protect against common floods- not floods on par with the Great Flood of 1993. Thousands more levees exist outside the control of the Corps, built and maintained by private citizens to protect land that has become much more valuable and populated since those levees were built. Many of these largely ad hoc levee are not maintained or even known to exist by anyone but their owners. Bea is not optimistic about our prospects.
"Once they do get an inventory," Bea said, "I think we're not going to like what we find." Read on below...
"Majority of levees are unmapped and uncertified." Elizabeth Ahlin, Omaha World-Herald, 5.11.08
"Army Corps says Condition of many levees a mystery." Jim Salter (AP), Omaha World-Herald, 5.12.08
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I have mixed feelings about this topic, though I hear about it all the time while working at my state agency, which works closely with the COA.
1- I feel terrible when there is a loss of homes and destruction of property due to floods, in the same way as I do when a tornado hits.
2- People choose to live in a floodplain. If they choose to live there, is it the government's responsibility to protect them from a natural force, or should it be their own responsibility; as part of their choice to live there? I'm really not sure.
Yes, the government should have a warning system to allow people to take appropriate action when a natural disaster will hit. But a tiny voice in my head whispers that if people are concerned about losing everything in a twister or a flood, those people should move out of the region. Perhaps people should never have moved to the floodplain to begin with.
I have a strong feeling of disgust when I see the strip malls and the like that have popped up in the floodplains in the St. Louis area since the flood of '93. Apparently everyone forgot that the area was under 10 feet of water just 15 years ago. Will our tax money go to rebuilding those areas when the levees eventually fail again, and the river does as it has done for thousands of years? What about their insurance companies? Will they pass on the cost to the rest of us who do not have our homes and businesses in a dangerous location?
It's too late now, I suppose, for society to realize that the floodplains are a part of the river, not just the area adjacent to it.
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