In spring 2019, floodwaters spilled over the top of the Ditch 6 levee and submerged most of Hamburg, Iowa. There wasn t enough time to build the levee higher before the 2019 flood, like the Corps of Engineers did in 2011. Katie Peikes / Harvest Public Media
Originally published on April 13, 2021 12:28 pm
Levees protect people, towns, and agriculture from flooding. But two years ago, parts of the Missouri River and its tributaries reached record crests, and many levees failed. Now there’s a rare effort to build a levee higher to better defend one southwest Iowa town.
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Hamburg in southwest Iowa sits five miles from the Missouri River, sandwiched between it and the Nishnabotna River. Just outside of town, the Ditch 6 levee stretches for a mile and a half, shielding the town of 1,100 people from runoff from the Loess Hills to the north and east. Built in 1998, it also serves as a secondary line of defense for Hamburg’s industrial buildings and homes i
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In spring 2019, floodwaters spilled over the top of the Ditch 6 levee and submerged most of Hamburg, Iowa. There wasn t enough time to build the levee higher before the 2019 flood, like the Corps of Engineers did in 2011.
Two years ago, parts of the Missouri River and its tributaries reached record crests, and many levees failed. Now there’s a rare effort to build a levee higher to better defend one southwest Iowa town.
Hamburg, Iowa, sits five miles from the Missouri River, sandwiched between it and the Nishnabotna River. Just outside of town, the Ditch 6 levee stretches for a mile and a half, shielding the town of 1,100 people from runoff from the Loess Hills to the north and east. Built in 1998, it also serves as a secondary line of defense for Hamburg’s industrial buildings and homes if a main levee along the Missouri River is overtopped or breached.