Watch: What completion of $119 million levee project means for metro-east, insurance rates
The Metro East Levee System that protects 65 miles of land, residents and businesses from flooding has been given its final letter of accreditation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, southwestern Illinois business and civic leaders announced Wednesday.
“This means that all five levee systems from Alton to Columbia have now been officially re-accredited by FEMA. This project was completed at less than half the initial cost estimates and 22 years ahead of projected schedules if federal funds only were utilized,” Gary Hoelscher, president of the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, said during the announcement at America’s Central Port District in Granite City, IL.
The system consists of five levees along the Mississippi River in St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties. It protects 288,000 people, 4,000 businesses, 56,000 jobs, 111,000 acres and $13.3 billion in assets, according to the leadership council.
In 2007, FEMA announced its intention to take away accreditation for the Metro-East Levee System, if the region didn’t improve the levees to meet 100-year flood standards.
“This would have been disastrous for the area,” said Chuck Etwert, chief engineer and supervisor of construction and the works for Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District Council. “ A lot of economic impacts. “
For one thing, without accreditation, residents and businesses would have been required to have flood insurance, which at the time, would have cost roughly $50 million a year across the area. “People couldn’t afford that,” Etwert said.
Local and state officials worked together to find a solution, including forming the the Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District Council. To help pay for these levee improvements, the county boards in St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties passed a quarter-cent sales tax.
“It took 15 years to get here, took seven years for the creation of the council, the studies and the engineering design. Then it took four years for the construction and it took four years to get FEMA approval,” Etwert said Wednesday.
The original levee system was built in the 1940s into the 1950s. The recent levee construction projects were designed to stabilize the original levees; no height was added. The projects involved fixing under-seepage issues, where water seeps into the soils and underneath the levee. The projects built shallow and deep cut off walls, seepage berms, relief wells and pump stations to control seepage.
The project cost about $119 million and faced three major floods during construction that was finished in 2018. In 2019 the area had the second highest flood on record. It was the longest lasting flood event, 126 days and the longest flood event, 126 days.
“I’m happy to say everything that we built performed just as designed.” Etwert said.
Work is continuing to bring the levees up to a 500-year-flood level.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 10:54 AM.