ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - Through the Corps’ Emergency Management mission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, provided flood-fight supplies and on-the-ground technical assistance throughout the Quincy, Ill., Flood Area April 18-27 in an effort to fend off the rising Mississippi River and prevent flood-related damages.
On April 19, the Corps established a remote Emergency Operations Center in Quincy, Ill., to provide assistance to communities within the Corps’ Quincy Flood Area that extends 100 miles along the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa, to 40 miles south of Hannibal, Mo. The Corps provided 110,000 sandbags and 2,100 feet of poly sheeting.
Thirteen specially trained Flood Area Engineers deployed to the area and provided direct flood-fight support helping the local drainage and levee districts and river communities to fight flood waters.
In Keokuk, Iowa, the Corps worked with the new public works director, police chief and fire chief to offer technical insight into the City’s flood risk management system. With city emergency personnel, Corps engineers walked along the Keokuk floodwall and closure structures highlighting what should be monitored and how to best address flood-risk issues as they arose.
In the Mississippi-Fox Drainage and Levee District in Northeastern Missouri, the Corps provided the drainage district with on-the-ground technical assistance during the peak of the flood crest which started to overtop the levee system on April 20. Additional sandbags were brought in from neighboring areas to help address low spots in the system and the Corps provided 10,000 additional sandbags to help reduce the chance of the levee fully overtopping. With this focused effort and the help from surrounding areas, the crest of the flood was stopped at the very top of the added protection and thousands of acres of land and numerous buildings were saved from flood waters.
Following the cresting of the Mississippi River within the Quincy Flood Area and as flood waters continued to recede, the Corps demobilized their Quincy Emergency Operations Center on April 27.
The Rock Island District’s Emergency Management mission serves communities in a 78,000-square-mile, five-river-basin area which includes Iowa and Illinois and portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. Communities facing flood events can request Corps assistance through their state emergency management agency.
For more information please visit our Rock Island District Flood Web site at www.mvr.usace.army.mil/About/Offices/EmergencyManagement/2013Flood.aspx.