(Radio Iowa) — Extreme flood damage to Missouri River levees has officials concerned they won’t be fixed in time for more possible flooding this spring. The Benton/Washington Levee District runs from just south of Thurman to the Missouri line. District president Pat Sheldon says that stretch of levee has had numerous breaches. Sheldon worries the U-S Army Corps of Engineers may not be able to get the levee repaired quickly enough and they’ll have to let Mother Nature run her course. Sheldon says, “There’s not much we can do unless they can come in and do some temporary repairs around our breeches to give us some protection so people can go home.”

Sheldon says it’s unclear how much repairs may cost, but in 2011 — following the last major floods — about 150-million dollars was spent to repair levees just in Fremont County. He fears this time, it will be much more costly as the damage is severe.  “Big ruts of erosion down the side where we had overtopping, which is water flowing over the top of our levees, eating away the sod and the soil, and the material that makes our levee strong,” Sheldon says. “That’s how our breach on our district started.”

He says it’s possible the entire system may need to be rebuilt, but with more flooding likely in the weeks ahead, he’s not sure anything can be done in time.

(Thanks to Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)