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Failing US Infrastructure: Breached Missouri Levee Failed Inspection
POPLAR BLUFF, Missouri — The damaged agricultural levee protecting the southern Missouri town of Poplar Bluff failed a federal inspection after a 2008 flood.
Kasey Medley, right, stands on the front porch of her flooded home with her friend Erica Cass on Tuesday in Poplar Bluff. Powerful storms that swept through the nation's midsection have pushed river levels to dangerous heights and are threatening to flood several towns in Missouri, and officials now report a levee protecting Poplar Bluff from the Black River has breached. (AP) Tony Hill, chief of the emergency management office for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Little Rock, Ark., told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the levee protecting farmland and homes near Poplar Bluff from the rain-swollen Black River received an "unacceptable" rating in 2008.
That's the lowest of three rankings the Corps gives to levees.
Hill said the private district that operates the levee was unable to make repairs. Because the problems weren't addressed, the levee no longer qualifies for a Corps program that provides money for flood-related repairs.
Water from the Black River is flowing over the top of the levee, which was breached in one spot Monday. The flood danger has displaced about 1,000 people and put homes in and around the small town in danger.
Hill said the levee was breached in several spots and overtopped in the 2008 flooding.
Hill said an "unacceptable" rating can be caused by a number of factors, but the reasons for the rating weren't immediately known Tuesday.
He said the rating is common to smaller levees, and he called it a "systemic problem." He said many levees are more than 50 years old and the districts that manage them don't have enough money to maintain them.
A 2009 Corps report shows three other levees in the same county also failed inspection.
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13 Comments so far
Show AllThis sort of headline is what you expect from a "failed state." Problems are identified, their seriousness is highlighted--and then nothing is done. We have a bridge in my area, so liable to collapse that loaded school buses are not allowed to cross it (presumably a collapse with the driver alone would not be serious enough to warrant an alternate route). The problem has been identified--and there is not enough money to do anything about it. I'm wondering if we could invite Congress over to inspect the bridge. "Line up just so. Now, altogether...jump up and down!"
Weeeell good grief. this is a totally unacceptable waste of taxpayers dollars!
that inspector's job should have been cut years ago. now we can't claim its an act of god.
[/sarcasm]
Must have been a union inspector :(
>^^<
I guess no rich people lived on the other side of that levee, so there was no need to fix it.
Update. 6:30 M$M news mentioned the levee breach, but no mention about it failing an inspection. The spin was it was just the unusual heavy rain that caused the failure. The infrastructure is just fine, go watch Amerikan Idle...
I live in the Midwest. We have had over 12 inches of rain in less than a week and it's raining right now.
But, last week, when we had severe storms, with high winds and tornado warnings, I was watching the TV and the weatherman APOLOGIZED for interrupting a TV show, (either American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, I don't remember). He said that they would try to get back before the finals.
Seriously? You're telling people to take shelter immediately, and at the same time promising not to interrupt their dumbass TV shows?
And don't EVER talk about global warming increasing the severity of storms. Oh, no.
"Hill said the private district that operates the levee was unable to make repairs."
Note "private." As in, for profit. More profitable to let it rot. So let's privatize everything to make short-term profits for leeches who won't fix things. Then, when the roads and bridges become unusable, we'll all get to stay home from school and work forever.
Some towns are already letting paved roads go back to gravel. We'll need horses and buggies again.
And the economic smashdown has just begun.
Anyone for $5 a day pay? Goldman-Sachs' dream.
Et tu, Associated Press? The word is Breached, not Breeched.
Dammed H1B reporters !
>^^<
>>>> the levee protecting farmland ...
That farmland was created by repeated flooding, it's a FLOODplain in no need of "protection" by a levee.
It's true. Big rivers need a bit of wriggle room and they don't always like being confined to a fixed shape, permanently. Especially during springtime and when major bends are involved. But to truly start respecting this reality, people would also have to be flexible on land ownership, sharing during times of difficulty, etc.
This is a really important point. People should not be living in these floodplains. Period. If you have too many people, the poorest get to live in death alley.
I wonder how many bridge collapses, levee breaks, train derailments, and giant sinkholes in the highways (along with associated casualties) it will take to get "the powers that be" to realize how our bassackwards budget and tax policies are contributing to all this?
The fact that the levees broke is, indeed, a tragedy for the people of Poplar Bluff! We need real leadership at the local, state and federal levels, irrespective of party labels -- the infrastructure of this country is literally crumbling around us.
I haven't posted for a long time, but I can't resist commenting. Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and almost the entire town, petitioned George W. Bush to come to their town to speak and campaign because the town loved him so much!
The following is one of his statements to the crowd: "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004
My very best childhood friend's sister and brother-in-law lived in Poplar Bluff at that time, and that is why I know about the petition. Everyone else in the family, except this one sister, is progressive. When I was a kid, this same sister introduced us to the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and to other protest groups. Ironic, isn't it?