The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services in California has paid over $390,000 to cover the costs of repairing levees in Sacramento County. These levees were damaged by a series of atmospheric river storms that occurred more than a year ago, resulting in devastating floods.
CalOES has recently announced the approval of reimbursement funds under the California Disaster Assistance Act. These funds have been allocated to assist Reclamation District 800 Cosumnes in covering the expenses incurred for emergency repairs to levees.
On December 31, 2022, the Cosumnes River near Wilton experienced a break in levees due to atmospheric rivers and flash floods.
The recent severe weather in Sacramento County led to flooding in various areas, resulting in unfortunate incidents such as three fatalities. One of the affected areas was southbound Highway 99.
The district received funds from CalOES to assist with its contract with the National Resource Conservation Service Emergency Watershed Program. These funds will be used to cover the costs of two levee repairs near Fig Road and Lee School Road.
According to The Sacramento Bee, district officials have confirmed that the levee repairs were completed last year.
According to Patrick Ervin, the engineer consultant for Reclamation District 800 Cosumnes, one of the incidents involved a levee breach. He explains that the water came over the top of the levee, causing significant damage and creating a hole in the levee at the end of Fig Road on the west end.
Ervin mentioned that Lee School Road was also affected by the flooding. He described how the water overtopped in that area, leading to significant landside and waterside erosion.
The news release states that $287,769 has been reimbursed for the repair of the levee in the Lee School Road area. Out of this amount, $21,582 was allocated for administrative costs.
The levee near Fig Road will receive $185,998 in funding from the National Resource Conservation Service Emergency Watershed Program for repairs.
The CalOES website states that funding becomes available for repairing, restoring, or replacing public real property that has been damaged or destroyed by a disaster when the CalOES receives a local emergency proclamation requesting state disaster assistance.
