Corps: Decorah levees problematic

DECORAH - The city's right bank levee system is 'unacceptable' and the left bank is 'minimally acceptable,' according to a report recently completed by the Army Corps of Engineers' St. Paul District.

Corps and city officials met last week to discuss the inspection details and levee deficiencies.

The Corps built the two levees in the 1940s and 1950s, and remedial work was completed in the 1960s. The city operates and maintains the levees.

The right bank levee system provides protection to the part of Decorah south of the Upper Iowa River. It received an overall unacceptable rating because of problems that may prevent it from performing as intended during a flood.

The rating means that until the deficiencies are corrected, the levee system is ineligible for federal rehabilitation assistance if it is damaged in a flood or storm event, a Corps statement said.

The Corps will, however, continue to inspect the system and provide flood-fighting assistance to the community. The report says deficiencies in the right bank levee system include deterioration of culverts through the levee embankment, excessive veg­etation growth on the embankment adjacent to the Dry Run diversion channel, operation of sanitary sewer system closure structures and loss of derrick stone in the Dry Run channel.

The left bank levee system, which protects the area of the city located north of the Upper Iowa River, received an overall rating of minimally acceptable. If its problems are not corrected within two years, the system will be rated as unacceptable.

Its deficiencies, according to the inspection report, include unwanted vegetation growth, encroachments, required culvert inspections, operation of sanitary sewer system closure structures and loss of derrick stone in the Dry Run diversion channel.

Decorah City Administrator Jerry Freund told Corps officials that the inadequacies with the 60-year-old levee system would be addressed in an appropriate and timely fashion.

'The city is currently engaged in the process of pursuing levee accreditation under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Map Modernization Program,' he said.

'The city intends to coordinate the correction of noted deficiencies with the steps currently being taken in pursuit of the levee accreditation.'

By Sarah Strandberg, Correspondent