MILLS COUNTY, Iowa (KMTV) — The next 24 hours are critical and the first major test of the levees that were rebuilt in Mills County following the 2019 floods.
- Chairman of the Mills and Pottawattamie County Levee District John Poore has seen a lot in his nearly 88 years, including some major flooding.
- Poore is hopeful that sections of the levee that were rebuilt after the 2019 floods will hold up as water levels rise.
- "If we get an overtop. And it takes the levee out. That puts water right up to the ceiling of this house," said Poore.
- RELATED: 5 years after the 2019 flood Homeland Security rates 48% of Iowa levees as 'unacceptable'
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The next 24 hours are critical and the first major test of the levees that were rebuilt following the 2019 floods. I'm your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel. I'm in Mills County, near the area where the levee was breached in 2019.
Now, levee trustees are telling me that they're hopeful that it won't happen again this time. But they're keeping a close eye on it.
John Poore has farmed in Iowa and Nebraska, near the Bellevue toll bridge, his whole life.
"The traffic, crossing the bridge with big farm equipment. That was something else," he said.
The 87-year-old chairman of the Mills and Pottawattamie County Levee District was busy on Wednesday; coordinating with officials and monitoring water levels.
Poore (on his phone): "We'll know more tomorrow."
He showed me where the levee was breached, near the Highway 34 bridge, in 2019.
Both he, and levee trustee Dennis Lincoln, whose farm was hit hard in 2019, told me they feel relatively confident in that rebuilt section of the levee.
"And I really don't see much risk in that portion of the levee because it was all built after the 2019 flood. What I do have is some weak spots right back here," said Poore.
The older, northern section of the levee, where Poore lives and farms, was built in the late '70s and has some wear and tear.
"If we get an overtop. And it takes the levee out. That puts water right up to the ceiling of this house," he said.
During a March meeting in Glenwood, the Department of Homeland Security said 48% of Iowa levees are not in acceptable condition.
Poore and Lincoln told me their levee district needs about $60 million to fully bring it up to standard.
That includes improving a choke point where trees are pinching the water flow between the levee and the river.
In the meantime, as waters rise, Poore is vigilant. Water levels in his district should crest on Thursday, and for the time being, the Corps of Engineers is forecasting it will be lower than the levees.
