(DOT file photo)
As the northernmost parts of the Mississippi swell with spring rainfall and snowmelt flooding is coming into view downriver. The flood stage at Burlington is 15 feet and early Monday it was at 16.5 and is currently forecast to reach 19.6 by Sunday evening.
Burlington Mayor Jon Billups says that’s about the level that flood waters begin to affect the Port of Burlington downtown. “We’re always concerned. We always keep an eye on the river. With our floodwall, it’s not nearly a panic situation. We’ll start putting the panels in this week,” he says. Billups says the city is pretty good up until 18 feet , with the floodwall, pumps, and HESCO barriers filled with sand.
The river will crest higher than it has since 2019, when there was significant flooding in downtown Burlington. That year, it went over 25 feet five times, the city had HESCO barriers up for 120, and one of those barriers failed. But Billups says since then the city has finished the downtown portion of the floodwall and can endure 19 or so feet, even if it’s starting to get uncomfortable.
“With the floodwall, we’ll have some seepage. But we should be able to pump that out. We should be able to keep the water out of our sewer lift station, and as long as we can do that, we can keep it out of businesses’ basements downtown,” Billups says. Current predictions are for the river at Burlington to reach 21 or 22 by May 4th or 5th. That’s when things get hairier. And that doesn’t include any potential local rainfall that could increase or prolong impacts.
“As the river continues to come up, there are concerns about the levees and stuff. Once you are in the 20, 21 plus range, then there’s concerns about the levees on both sides of the river, and boy we sure hope it doesn’t come to that,” Billups says. Billups says he hopes Old Man River will settle down a bit. And that Mother Nature helps out a little bit too.
(By Jane Carlson, WIEU radio)