The US Army Corps of Engineers says nine of the 52 levees that need to be repaired along the Missouri River levee system have been temporarily plugged. They won’t have all the temporary fixes made until next spring, at the earliest.
"I don't feel like going back and fixing anything or spending any money there until I know they're going to fix the levees,” Jack Scroggs told 6 News. His properties in Pacific Junction were destroyed in the flood.
"Going forward we have 30 construction contracts that we're looking at having awarded between now and the end of this calendar year and potentially the first part of 2020,” Bret Budd, chief of the Corps System Restoration Team for the Omaha District, told 6 News.
He says these are temporary repairs. Complete repairs are still at least two years in the making. "We are nowhere near out the woods,” says Larry Hurst, Emergency Management Director, for Mills County.
Hurst said water started creeping back into parts of the county over this past weekend, an example of just how vulnerable they are until the permanent fixes are made. The Corps of Engineers agrees.
"Until we get to the final fix, it's a reminder to everyone who lives behind a levee,” Budd told 6 News. "There's a definite risk . . . it's really not totally safe yet.” To make the repairs they will need funding, something that hasn’t been secured yet. It’s another concern for emergency management coordinators, like Hurst. "The bigger problem is what are these structures going to look like in a year, two years, three years from now and who's going to pay for it.”
The Corp of Engineers said it will take congressional action to get all the funding necessary. Whatever it takes, Scroggs tells 6 News he just wants them to get moving. "I'd just like to see them get them fixed, so we can get on with our lives."