By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Many levees across Arkansas are in such poor condition that they may not pass federal certification and could crumble under heavy rains, state lawmakers heard Friday.
Without that certification, property owners in the levee district would have to start buying costly flood insurance.
“That’s the train wreck that’s going to happen in the next two to three years,” Randy Young, executive director of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, told members of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.
“It’s going to be a disaster in my county if people are going to have to start paying ($200 to $500) for flood insurance,” said Rep. Mike Patterson, D-Piggott.
Officials also said that without repairs, many of the levees, especially in northern and eastern Arkansas, could fail during heavy rains, resulting in catastrophic flooding.
“If the levees start failing because of a situation, a repeat of 1927, there is a great possibility that we could have a flood or a possible worse flood than we had, with more loss of lives, would you agree with that?” Rep. Mike Burris asked.
John Sweeney, chief engineer and deputy director of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, said Burris’ scenario was possible.
Nearly 100 people died in the 1927 flood, which covered more than 6,500 square miles. Thirty-six counties were under water up to 30 feet deep in places, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.
A state audit of levee districts, conducted last fiscal year and presented to lawmakers Friday, found that no state agency is responsible for maintaining a complete list of the districts and there are no procedures to approve the construction or registration of new levees.
“A comprehensive listing of levees within the state is a vital step in assuring levees are operational and meet sound engineering standards,” state auditor Doug Spencer said.
The committee said many levee districts no longer have active boards, some have none and often the districts do not have enough money to afford regular repairs of the levees.
Levees in Arkansas fall within one of three Corps of Engineers jurisdictions — the Little Rock District, Memphis District and Vicksburg District.
The audit report included a list of 86 levees in the Little Rock and West Memphis districts, of which 32 had received an unacceptable rating. There were no levees from the Vicksburg District on the list because information was not available, auditors said.
Along with compiling a list of levees and developing a set of standards for maintenance and inspection, the audit report recommended developing uniform financial reporting requirements for individual levee districts, along with creation of rules to annex or merge districts for noncompliance with accreditation requirements.
Act 386, passed this year, does require levee districts to file annual reports. It also requires county clerks to notify the state if there is a vacancy on a levee district’s board.
“This is a serious matter and we need to do something about it,” Patterson said.
