Fear Of Levee Failing Stirs Town To Build A Second & Higher Levee
A Tale Of Two Levees
The result is two levees.
The Illinois River at Hardin stands at 38.69 feet as of 8 p.m. Saturday. The crest is projected at 40.3 feet on Wednesday, June 5. The Nutwood levee on the bank of the Illinois River is 40 feet in some areas but there are multiple areas that have settled or for various other reasons are less than 40 feet. As of now, the levee is not capable of holding back the river unless extra steps are taken to top the levee with sandbags. A call for sandbagging help went out Saturday in Nutwood. Rick Diverger, of the Nutwood Levee District and some others at the site issued a plea for assistance.
“We have several miles of the levee to cover,” Diverger said. “We want to gain at least another foot. We need as many volunteers as we can get. We don’t have a machine at this time, so we need sandbagging help.”
Not wanting to rely solely on the Nutwood Levee District protection, citizens of the tiny village of Nutwood decided to try and not have a replay of the 93 flood that devastated the community. Nutwood residents Susan Baze and Chandra Eckert helped organize an effort that created a 44 foot high floodwall as a last line of defense should the regular levee fail. Both women have been sandbagging and building the wall in Nutwood all week trying to help keep the small community safe from the flood waters.
“The Nutwood community will not go down without a fight,” Baze said. “My son, myself and my husband took off all week to work here."
Eckert and Baze both said they are trying to save their homes in the process. The two women said people have been wonderful. Bulldozing work was donated at the site for three days and all that the donors only asked for fuel for their efforts. There have also been several donations of materials needed for the project. The two women encouraged people to come and help sandbag. According to Nutwood residents, the community was refused assistance in construction of the levee by state and county officials. No materials were offered by any agency and residents were left to fend for themselves. In the end though, with determination and hard work, it appears that the small village of Nutwood now has a levee for protection that is four feet higher than the Corps of Engineers levee maintained by they Nutwood Levee District.
The Illinois National Guard is on site after being activated by Governor Pritzker and will be working to keep the levee as safe as possible. “We came for manpower to assist with the effort,” said Lt. Jeremy Irvin, the commander at the location and others to Hardin. “We had 197 soldiers total come to help.” If the Nutwood Levee does breach, as many fear, Hardin will be inaccessible via Route 16. This would isolate Calhoun county and make the trip from Hardin to Jerseyville take as long as four hours. The Nutwood Drainage and Levee District protects 10,360 acres of primarily agricultural land located in Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois, on the left bank of the Illinois River between river miles 15.2 and 23.7 above the mouth of the Illinois River. The levee was overtopped and breached completely during the flood of 1993, inundating the area and causing a disruption of traffic on Illinois Routes 100 and 16 for over three months. The Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton was at 36.9 feet at 8 p.m. Saturday night. The Mississippi River level in Grafton was 33.11 feet at 8 p.m. Saturday. The river is supposed to crest at 36 feet on Wednesday, June 5.
“We have several miles of the levee to cover,” Diverger said. “We want to gain at least another foot. We need as many volunteers as we can get. We don’t have a machine at this time, so we need sandbagging help.”
Not wanting to rely solely on the Nutwood Levee District protection, citizens of the tiny village of Nutwood decided to try and not have a replay of the 93 flood that devastated the community. Nutwood residents Susan Baze and Chandra Eckert helped organize an effort that created a 44 foot high floodwall as a last line of defense should the regular levee fail. Both women have been sandbagging and building the wall in Nutwood all week trying to help keep the small community safe from the flood waters.
“The Nutwood community will not go down without a fight,” Baze said. “My son, myself and my husband took off all week to work here."
Eckert and Baze both said they are trying to save their homes in the process. The two women said people have been wonderful. Bulldozing work was donated at the site for three days and all that the donors only asked for fuel for their efforts. There have also been several donations of materials needed for the project. The two women encouraged people to come and help sandbag. According to Nutwood residents, the community was refused assistance in construction of the levee by state and county officials. No materials were offered by any agency and residents were left to fend for themselves. In the end though, with determination and hard work, it appears that the small village of Nutwood now has a levee for protection that is four feet higher than the Corps of Engineers levee maintained by they Nutwood Levee District.
The Illinois National Guard is on site after being activated by Governor Pritzker and will be working to keep the levee as safe as possible. “We came for manpower to assist with the effort,” said Lt. Jeremy Irvin, the commander at the location and others to Hardin. “We had 197 soldiers total come to help.” If the Nutwood Levee does breach, as many fear, Hardin will be inaccessible via Route 16. This would isolate Calhoun county and make the trip from Hardin to Jerseyville take as long as four hours. The Nutwood Drainage and Levee District protects 10,360 acres of primarily agricultural land located in Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois, on the left bank of the Illinois River between river miles 15.2 and 23.7 above the mouth of the Illinois River. The levee was overtopped and breached completely during the flood of 1993, inundating the area and causing a disruption of traffic on Illinois Routes 100 and 16 for over three months. The Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton was at 36.9 feet at 8 p.m. Saturday night. The Mississippi River level in Grafton was 33.11 feet at 8 p.m. Saturday. The river is supposed to crest at 36 feet on Wednesday, June 5.
