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Frank: Flood damage could hit $250,000
By Cindy Iutzi/Gate City Staff Writer
WARSAW, Ill. - The Flood of 2008 left a thick blanket of mud and debris in June and July along the territory it claimed from river cities and farms.
As Mississippi River flood waters subsided, a flood of bills washed in and accumulated on mayors' desks.
“It will be in excess of $250,000 by the time we get done,” said Warsaw Mayor Robert Frank. “And possibly even more.”
Frank and Police Chief Brandon Norris, Warsaw's Emergency Services Disaster Agency representative, met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency much of Tuesday, trying to get a line on required forms, procedures and the amount of disaster funding the city can expect.
One of the first of the city's several priorities is the wastewater treatment lagoon.
Built in the 1960s on the riverside of the levee in the flood plain, the lagoon has been compromised by the recent flood.
Normally 4 1/2 to five feet deep, the lagoon now has only 2 1/2 feet of capacity. The lagoon is half-filled with silt that must be removed.
Frank said the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will determine where the silt can be deposited after it is taken from the lagoon.
Under normal conditions, the lagoon is emptied every 30 to 40 years.
Sand and debris carried by flood waters also has blocked Warsaw's water intake for the second time in two years. An emergency intake has been providing water for a couple of months now, but is difficult to maintain.
“The waterworks is still keeping up with demand,” said Water Department Superintendent Joe Samuels. “But we still have to struggle with the intake. The boys have to wade out into the river and put an extension on it now and then.”
The city has been working with FEMA for funding to move the permanent intake and now has a rough plan to solve the blockage problem.
The city's engineering consultant, Elgin Berry of Poepping, Stone, Bach and Associates, believes the solution could lie with an old, abandoned coal dock up stream from the current intake location. If the city's ownership of the coal dock can be determined, the coal dock would serve as a superstructure for the intake. The intake would be in a concrete chamber behind a piling, protected from river flooding.
“We won't have anything out in the river,” Samuels said. “It will be 110 percent better than what we have.”
“This is a work in progress,” Frank said. “If we can solve this problem permanently, I think FEMA will go along with it.”
The city received $35,000 from the government for damage to the water intake after the Des Moines River flooded in August 2007. Frank said the money was used to pay off the note.
Flood-related repairs along Water Street also will be expensive. Several inches of mud had to be scraped away from the road and lays in ridges along both sides of the street. Riverfront Park and the boat docks sustained serious silting as well as electrical and plumbing damage.
“Mud removal is going to be quite a project,” Frank said.
As Mississippi River flood waters subsided, a flood of bills washed in and accumulated on mayors' desks.
“It will be in excess of $250,000 by the time we get done,” said Warsaw Mayor Robert Frank. “And possibly even more.”
Frank and Police Chief Brandon Norris, Warsaw's Emergency Services Disaster Agency representative, met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency much of Tuesday, trying to get a line on required forms, procedures and the amount of disaster funding the city can expect.
One of the first of the city's several priorities is the wastewater treatment lagoon.
Built in the 1960s on the riverside of the levee in the flood plain, the lagoon has been compromised by the recent flood.
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Frank said the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will determine where the silt can be deposited after it is taken from the lagoon.
Under normal conditions, the lagoon is emptied every 30 to 40 years.
Sand and debris carried by flood waters also has blocked Warsaw's water intake for the second time in two years. An emergency intake has been providing water for a couple of months now, but is difficult to maintain.
“The waterworks is still keeping up with demand,” said Water Department Superintendent Joe Samuels. “But we still have to struggle with the intake. The boys have to wade out into the river and put an extension on it now and then.”
The city has been working with FEMA for funding to move the permanent intake and now has a rough plan to solve the blockage problem.
The city's engineering consultant, Elgin Berry of Poepping, Stone, Bach and Associates, believes the solution could lie with an old, abandoned coal dock up stream from the current intake location. If the city's ownership of the coal dock can be determined, the coal dock would serve as a superstructure for the intake. The intake would be in a concrete chamber behind a piling, protected from river flooding.
“We won't have anything out in the river,” Samuels said. “It will be 110 percent better than what we have.”
“This is a work in progress,” Frank said. “If we can solve this problem permanently, I think FEMA will go along with it.”
The city received $35,000 from the government for damage to the water intake after the Des Moines River flooded in August 2007. Frank said the money was used to pay off the note.
Flood-related repairs along Water Street also will be expensive. Several inches of mud had to be scraped away from the road and lays in ridges along both sides of the street. Riverfront Park and the boat docks sustained serious silting as well as electrical and plumbing damage.
“Mud removal is going to be quite a project,” Frank said.
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