Callaway County commissioner proposes raising levees
A Callaway County commissioner suggested Friday that officials build higher levees along the Missouri River to protect land in mid-Missouri, possibly expanding the concept if it works.
Western District Commissioner Roger Fischer made the proposal during the public comment section of a meeting of the Flood Recovery Advisory Working Group, which was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson in the wake of massive spring flooding along the Missouri River this year.
The group is charged with compiling a report for the governor with recommendations for short- and long-term flood recovery priorities and give feedback on the state’s current levee system.
The plan Fischer pitched includes pushing back levees and building them higher. Fischer said past floods demand a change to the levee system.
“I’m tired of seeing the taxpayers’ money spent repairing the same levees at the same elevation in the same location,” he said.
Fischer said he would like to see the Army Corps of Engineers and Missouri Department of Natural Resources work on the section of the Missouri River from Cedar Creek to the Osage River in Callaway County.
“If we start here, in the core of the state of Missouri, at the Capitol, and do our riverfront, and if it works and we get the right, we can emulate that across the state,” Fischer said.
He said these meetings with the working group are helping start the conversation about levee change across the state.
“We have the people that are affected on the ground, we have the farmers that may or may not have to donate land or dirt to build the levees, and we’ve got the governor’s task force,” Fischer said. “We’ve got a lot of people in the right places that can make things happen.”
Callaway County farmer Jose Cruz said during Friday’s meeting that this is the first year since he has been farming he has not been able to plant a crop.
“We want to try to make it so we can grow crops more consistently,” Cruz said.
Cruz is working with the Corp of Engineers to restore the levee on his property. He said it is a slow process and construction might not start until December or January.
“The amount we spend in repairs, if we were to take that amount and apply it to improvements, we could potentially lessen the damage when an event like this happens,” Cruz said.
