Des Moines neighborhood watches, waits as dam is lowered at rain-swollen lake, river rises

Des Moines neighborhood waits as dam gates lowered

DES MOINES, Iowa — Crews wearing life jackets walked a vulnerable levee near downtown Des Moines on Thursday looking for signs of trouble as the Des Moines River continued to rise.

Hours earlier, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began releasing water from a reservoir into the river north of Des Moines faster than planned in an effort to empty as much from it as possible before more rain falls this weekend.

The release of water, while necessary to keep Saylorville Lake from overflowing, may also put pressure on the levee protecting a neighborhood near the city’s downtown. The levee failed in 1993 and 2008, flooding the working-class Birdland neighborhood, and residents there fear their homes could be inundated with water again.

The river was expected to crest Thursday night, but because it’s rising slower than anticipated, the corps expects it to crest at 7 a.m. Friday.

Bill Stowe, the director of Des Moines Public Works, said he was keeping his fingers crossed on the levee.

“This is still a very weak levee,” he said. “I would certainly not be surprised, although I would be disappointed, if we had a failure.”

Stowe said he was confident that in case the levee breaks, a secondary levee system behind it would hold. He said good weather has bought workers time to reinforce a weaker part of the levee.

He was inspecting the levee Thursday with Jerry Skalak, the corps project manager.

Skalak said he had concerns about the levee but was confident it would hold.

“You’ll get some flooding of some park lands and other stuff that it will create,” he said, “but as far as commercial and residential flooding and stuff, unless there’s a major levee failure, there should be no harm.”

The levee, which is about 1,000 feet long and 60 feet wide, is being patrolled 24 hours a day. Crews walking the levee wore life jackets in case part of the levee gave way.

Sandbagging was under way at Glass Professionals Inc., a glass shop within a quarter-mile of the levee.

Employees Kevin Orr and Kevin Schrauth, both of Ankeny, have been building a wall of sandbags around the plant since Monday.

“It’s ridiculous. We’re pretty worked up about it, to be honest with you,” Schrauth said. “We might be shut down for two weeks. That puts us behind for the whole rest of the summer.”

The Corps began lowering panels from an inflatable dam in Saylorville Lake earlier in the day to avoid producing a roaring current as the water pours over the reservoir’s spillway, located 11 miles north of Des Moines.

Tom Heinold, an Army Corps flood-risk management coordinator, said the decision to release water faster was made once it became clear the city was prepared for higher water and because the forecast showed that up to 3 inches of rain could fall Sunday and Monday.

Initially, it was expected to take about 15 hours to lower the dam’s five panels. That was later moved up to about 11 hours.

“We want to get as much water out of the lake without causing undue damage,” Heinold said. “We are going to lower them faster in an effort to release as much water as we can before it rains.”

Some residents in the Birdland neighborhood packed up their belongings and headed to higher ground earlier this week, fearing that the levee could fail again. In 2008, some 135 homes and businesses were engulfed by the flooded Des Moines River after the levee gave way.

The projected crest anticipated Friday has been lowered to 26.7 feet. That is less than 4 feet above flood stage and below the 2008 level of 31.6 feet.

Heinold said the lower level is because not as much water is flowing into the reservoir because of this week’s sunny weather.

Construction of a new levee was delayed by red tape and work that was set to begin this month has been postponed because of weeks of heavy rain.

Gloria Spivey, who was packing up her home Thursday, wasn’t optimistic a new levee would be built anytime soon.

“It took them 17 years to plan it out and it will take them 17 years to build it,” said Spivey, who moved across the street when her home was condemned after the 2008 flood.

Associated Press Writers Luke Meredith and Michael J. Crumb contributed to this report.