HE OSHAPE

approved funding last December, the
repair process moved ahead swiftly,
Leighow said. Until that time, USACE
worked with the Office of the Assistant
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to
reallocate funds from other projects for re-
pairs. “Our philosophy was, ‘fund it and
fix it,” he noted.

Federal agencies in these meetings in-
cluded the Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency and the Natural Resources
Conservation Service, formerly the U.S.
Soil Conservation Service. The task force
conducted weekly phone calls and three
face-to-face meetings. It also created work
groups on levee repairs, flood plain issues,
and water management.

“If we didn't have all the answers, wed
come back to the group with more infor-
mation,” Leighow said. “It was a great
united effort.”

As a result, knowledge was shared,

Bonnet Carré Spillway, located about 12 miles west of New Orleans, La., is shown in opera-

tion during the 2011

Mississippi River Flood. The spillway allows water from the river to flow

into Lake Pontchartrain and on to the Gulf of Mexico.

on stabilizing berms that continues. For
USACE-operated projects, the damage
was more extensive to spillways and gates
and repairs could stretch into FY 2015.
Some of the most challenging problems
along the Missouri River were caused by
miles of seepage, in which the long-stand-
ing high water worked its way down into
the ground and established multiple path-
ways to the other side of the levees. To fully
identify the breadth of damage, extensive
geotechnical investigations were conducted
that included the use of electrical currents
to analyze the quality of the ground.
Similar to the Mississippi River basin
work, USACE engine:

souri River repairs utilized a four-phase

working on Mis-

analysis system thar ranked top priorities
from Class 1 through Class 4. Within all
the levees, regardless of priority, a variety
of approaches are used to “fix” the dam-
aged levee including seepage mitigation
blankets, levee setbacks, and non-structur-
al alternatives, “We are always looking at
flood plain management,” said Leighow,
and setbacks are “one of the tools in your
tool bag as you collaborate with others on
a rehabilitation project.”

USACE also convened a Missouri River
Flood ‘Task Force with state and federal
agencies and Indian tribes. After Congress

questions more easily answered, and un-
expected roadblocks were attacked from
multiple angles. This constructive col-
laboration represents a long-term plus for
the future. “Throughout this process,”
Leighow said, “there was a strong focus on
collaborative problem solving.”

PREPARING FOR THE
' NEXT FLOOD

To combat future flooding, USACE has organized a series of teams
under an initiative called Operation Watershed Recovery. Key
processes include:

* A System Performance Evaluation Team is seeking answers to
key questions on system performance. It will make recommenda-
tions for future studies and improvements.
* A Damage Assessment Team ranks #
repair needs.

© An Interagency Task Force will examine system needs from a
regional perspective.

In addition, at the national level, USACE has convened a team of
external reviewers to look holistically at how the Missouri, Ohio,
and Mississippi rivers work together. As part of this process,
reviewers will examine the possible need for additional floodway
systems as part of a comprehensive protection strategy.

most important ongoing

72 SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES



2.5 Million Acres ; \
Protected by 5

Floodway: \
Jonesboro

Missisdippi

HH Levee Centerline

[| tevee Protected area
Birds Point-New Madrid

Birds PointNew Madrid Floodway.

Mississippi River Watershed was managed as a system during the
historic Mississippi River Basin flood event that extended from
March through July 2011. The purpose of this evaluation was to
(1) assess MR&T system performance, (2) identify and prioritize
recapitalization requirements for system components necessary to
repair the MR&T system for future events, and (3) assess effectiveness
or areas of improvement for water-control communication and
coordination across the watershed. The resulting documentation
and data sets will be valuable resources for system management,
operation, and improvements. They will also serve as reference
guides for future flood risk management,

With more than a year of intensive data collection, evaluation,
writing, and review, three key documents were produced as
part of the MR&T post-flood evaluation: a 50-page “Flood-
Fight Handbook,” a 350-page “Main ‘Technical Report” with
appendices, and a 32-page “Summary Report.” These documents
are intended to serve as educational tools and reference points
for citizens, decision-makers, and future flood fighters. Facts,
figures, and lessons learned from the 2011 flood serve to hasten
and guide endeavors to rebuild and improve the MR&T project,

ns’ lives and

ensuring continued safety and security of citi
livelihoods. Copies of these reports can be accessed via MVD’s
Regional Flood Risk Management website.

SHAPE

ENCOURAGING PARTNERSHIPS

During the rise and fall of floodwaters, teams of engineering spe-
cialists and levee district personnel carefully inspected, analyzed, and
documented the nature and extent of food-related vulnerabilities
and damages throughout the region. Early rough-order-of-magni-
tude repair estimates were on the order of $2 billion to return levees,
floodways, channels, and structures to pre-flood conditions. “The
path to recovery was strewn with challenges at nearly every turn, such
as funding, Mother Nature, endangered species, LERRDs [lands,
easements, rights-of-way, relocations, and disposal areas], NEPA
[National Environmental Policy Act], etc., that promised to impede
the repair process unless the region was able to come together for col-
laborative and innovative solutions,” explained Whitney.

USACE districts have close working relationships with local
levee districts and state/federal officials; however, the magnitude
and tegional nature of this recovery challenge required a higher
level of collaboration and perspective. This recognition prompted
the creation of the Interagency Recovery Task Force comprised of
senior-level representatives from 10 federal agencies and governor-
appointed representatives from seven states. Launched during the
height of the flooding in May 2011, this task force continued to
meet for months, holding eight meetings during the past year. “The
primary intent of this forum was to establish an integrated, col-
laborative, and holistic approach to repairing flood risk manage-
ment and navigation systems damaged by the historic 2011 flood,”
Whitney said.

Aside from regular local and regional meetings, USACE also pro-
vided real-time updates on repairs via its newly created Regional
Flood Risk Management, providing comprehensive access to docu-
ments, meeting minutes, videos, pictures, maps, and regularly up-
dated project repair status information. “The process would not have
gone as smoothly had we not had the task force and multiple layers of
interagency communication and collaboration,” he added.

‘The USACE and Mississippi River Commission, working hand
in hand with its strong partners, continue to keep an ear to the past,
maintain a hand on the present, and project a steady voice for the
nation’s bright and productive future. Visit the website for additional
details and resources: www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Missions/FloodRisk-
Management/RegionalFloodRiskManagementProgram.aspx

MISSOURI RIVER CLEANUP

Elsewhere, record snowfall in the Rocky Mountains in early 2011
combined with near-record spring rainfall in the region to produce
high water levels in the Missouri River basin that lasted through
October 2011. As a result of this flooding, 72 levees were eligible
for federal assistance in completing minor to major repairs.

OF the 66 levee rehabs that opted for federal assistance, 52
are complete, said John Leighow, chief of the readiness and
contingency operations division at the USACE Northwest Divi-
sion. Most levees will have been completed by the onset of flood
season (Spring 2013), although there may be additional work

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES 71



U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

_BUILDING STRONG

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES



HE OSHAPE

USACE FOCUSES ON RECOVERY
FROM 2011 MIDWEST FLOODING

By Charles Dervarics

hanks to quick action and well-laid operational plans,
JSAC)

many local, sate, and federal partners helped avoid

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ( ) and its

catastrophic damage to life and property in the record-
setting Midwest floods of 2011, But cleanup and repairs from
the flooding continued in earnest throughout 2012 as USACE
worked to address damages and vulnerabilities identified on vari-
ous components of the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T)
and Missouri River food risk reduction

ystems.

“In past two years, we've experienced historic Mississippi River
extremes, going from highest water level in history in 2011 to the
lowest water level in history in 2012,” said Score Whitney, region-
al flood risk manager for the USACE Missi

(MVD). “For comparable flood levels, you had to look back to

ippi Valley Division

1973 and 1927 and from a drought perspective 1988 or way back
to the 1930s Dust Bowl.”

With this wide variation in weather patterns, one essential
requirement for USACE is to employ a multilayered strategy to
asses

flood problems, develop short- and long-term solutions,
and convey information to the public in a timely way. This was
especially important across the 35,000-square-mile Lower Missis-
sippi River floodplain, where a comprehensive system of levees,

channels, floodways, and tribucary re

ervoits were designed to

safely convey the waters of the mighty Mississippi. “Our primary

goal from a flood risk management perspective is to provide risk-

informed protection for the lives and livelihoods of our citizens
and industry,” Whitney said.

BATTLING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Caused by snowmelt and record storms in spring 2011, the
flooding across the midwestern United States was particularly
acute in the Mississippi River basin. With 3,800 miles of levees,
embankments, and floodwalls from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to Ven-
ice, La. alone, the 2011 flood tested the system like none be-
fore, Whitn

MR&T levees failed and they are credited with preventing more

said, Yet despite damage in the region, no mainline

than $230 billion in damage in 2011 — $612 billion in damage
has been prevented since the carly 1930s. With a current invest-

ment of nearly $14 billion, that is roughly a $44 recurn on ever
$1 invested. Since its inception in 1928, the MR&T project has
evolved into one of the largest, most comprehensive, and most
successful flood risk reduction systems in the world,

68 SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

In planning its immediate response to the disaster, he said,
USACE organized Operation Watershed, focusing on three core
endeavors during the flood period:

* Current ops ~ an emergency operations unit dealt with cur-
rent flood-fight events in real time, helping to safely pass the
flood waters while also working closely to assise and inform
local and state officials with appropriate flood-response ac-
tions necessary to ensure the safety and security of human
lives, homes, cities, and businesses:

* Future ops ~ a futures unit looked ahead 24 to 48 hours for
near-term threats or consequences as Hoodwatets continued
down the river toward New Orleans, La.; and

y unic planned for damage assess-

+ Recovery ops — a recove!
ments, post-flood evaluations, interagency collaboration, and

construction repairs.
“Experience has shown effective and timely response ro and re-
covery from such a natural disaster requires an aggressive and a
comprehensive approach involving experienced professionals and
well-established and proven operational plans,” Whitney said,

“We began organizing and mobilizing our recovery teams even
as flood waters were still rising to ensure protocols and tools for
timely assessments, evaluation, collaboration, preparedness, and
repair.

“Effective recovery is about focusing your efforts to purposely

and aggressively reduce the system’ flood risk by triaging damage
repairs in a purposeful and prioritized fashion. Where you cannot

affect immediate repairs, you look for a variety of measures to incre-

mentally reduce or mitigate risk until full repair can be achieved,”
Whitney said. “A history of recurrent flooding has taught us that
we must remain vigilant and ensure we look at the full life cycle of

flood

paredness, response, recovery, and mitigation.”

isk management, including the four primary stages of pre-
Si g a) P

ASSESSING DAMAGE

fe and

After dealing with immediate response needs to protect |

property, USACE conducted an extensive damage assessment of
levees, floodwalls, foodways, channels, and reservoirs in the Mis-
sissippi River basin, For this process, engincers relied on physical
daca collection (during and after flood), historical analysis, and

a detailed examination of repair options, according to Whitne
USACE experts also classified repair projects into four cat-
egories, with Class I projects representing those that posed the


Memphis District Tenn.) team members form a sandbag relay line with city of Memphis employees during the flood of 2011 to ring a sand boil
at the Ensley berm near the USACE Ensley Engineer Yard just south of Memphis. Sand boils occur when water under pressure wells up through

a bed of sand, making it look like itis boiling.

greatest threat to human life/safery, requiring immediate action.
Classes 2 and 3 were projects with significant economic and
human safety risk that could worsen without near-term action.
Class 4 were low-priority, non-critical repairs.

‘Through this framework, the MVD rank-ordered 143 projects
requiring critical (Class 1-3) repairs at a cost of $1.04 billion, plus
262 non-critical (Class 4) projects costing another $543 million.
Until Congress and the Obama administration provided more
than $1.7 billion in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2012,
(enacted Dec. 23, 2011) to fund much of this work, USACE di-
verted funds from other civil works projects in June through De-
cember 2011 to begin tackling the highest-priority projects right
away, Whitney said.

Thanks to the congressional supplemental appropriations, “we
were able to sustain a continued and aggressive repair strategy
through the 2012 construction season,” he noted. At this poine,
USACE reports that flood repairs in the MVD are about 40 per-
cent complete. Current plans call for completing all projects by
spring 2014.

Much to the agency’s relief, there was little flooding in spring
2012, and in fact, the region has remained in a drought state for
much of the year, Such weather brings both pluses and minus-
es, Whitney noted. On the plus side, the good weather allows
landside crews to work without rain-related delays. However, wa-

terside crews had a near constant battle to remove the excessive
sedimentation in channels and harbors needed to maintain navi-
gation and also had restricted access to shorelines where repairs
were made from floating platforms.

Whitney said one top priority in the region was the rebuilding
of the intentionally activated fuse-plugs at the upper and lower
ends of the specially designed Birds Point-New Madrid (BP-NM)
Floodway. The BP-NM Floodway is one of four “relief valves”
purposely designed to make room for the river under extreme
flood events. This was the first time in the 80-plus-year history
of the MR&T that three of the system's four floodways had to
be concurrently operated and only the second time the BP-NM
Floodway and Morganza floodway were operated. While the oper-
ation of the BP-NM Floodway spread flood waters across 130,000
acres of prime farm land, it is credited with reducing flood peaks
by up to 4 feet for downstream communities and reducing intense
pressure on the adjacent mainline levee that serves to protect more
than 2.5 million developed flood plain acres.

POST-FLOOD EVALUATION

The MR&T  post-flood evaluation was a concentrated
multidisciplinary effort to investigate and document the
performance of the MR&T system and how the entire

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES 69