Corps provides update on Missouri River levees 5 years after flood disaster [Video]

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The levees along the Missouri River are meticulously monitored and maintained five years after the March 2019 flood obliterated more than 50 of them, south of Omaha.

“Even today we’re doing minor grading and seeding activities just to finalize all of the recovery activity,” said Ted Streckfuss with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha Division. Streckfuss is the Deputy District Engineer and Chief of Planning, Programs, and Project Management Division.

In his nearly 37 years with the district, Streckfuss once thought the 2011 flood would be the worst he’d see.

“I thought during my career I’d only have to do one 500-year event, the flood of ‘11. It was traumatic, it was challenging, it was difficult, it was emotional. And then along came flood of ‘19,” told Streckfuss.

The catastrophic 2019 flood was characterized by bombogenesis, which according to Streckfuss, overwhelmed the river’s capacity and caused widespread damage in communities in …