Record-setting levels on the Illinois River and tributaries damaged not only private property but a lot of government property too.
The Illinois Waterway Project Office in Peoria, Ill., was damaged by the flood waters. Building 306 which housed five employee offices and all the equipment for building and repairing wickets was flooded with nearly two feet of water.
Since the flood waters have receded, employees have removed all of the saturated building materials and are working on replacing the lower four feet of the building with steel sheeting making it waterproof for the next record-setting flood.
“All of the work is being done with in-house employees, allowing us to make layout changes and improvements,” said Mike Zerbonia, acting operations managers for the Illinois Waterway Project. “Outlets are being raised, offices reconfigured and machinery repositioned.”
In addition to the building, debris and mud was strewn throughout the grounds and in to several other buildings.
“A huge cleaning effort was undertaken using lock and hired labor folks,” said Zerbonia.